The rain poured down in torrents.
The wind battered against the windows. A small pot of succulents on the inner windowsill had endured a night of violent storms, only to succumb and finally crash to the floor.
With a loud thud, the noise jolted Shen Kui awake from her sleep.
She sighed, fumbled for her phone, and glanced at the time.
As expected. It’s 3 a.m. again.
Two weeks ago, after a period of intense overtime work on a project had temporarily concluded, her boss generously granted Shen Kui a two-week vacation. She had initially hoped to take the opportunity to relax and do nothing. But instead, she found herself trapped in a bizarre cycle of being woken up every night.
As a single woman in her thirties, Shen Kui was well-versed in the art of healthy living. She went to bed before 11 p.m. and woke up at 7 a.m. every day, adhering to a strict, unwavering routine. Her sleep quality was so robust that she could sleep soundly through even the noisiest midnight renovations next door.
But ever since that night two weeks ago when a stray cat’s cry from downstairs had startled her awake, things had taken a strange and relentless turn.
No matter how deeply or soundly she slept, at exactly 3 a.m. every night, some peculiar noise would rouse her from her dreams.
First, it was the cat’s meowing. Then, the glass in the bathroom inexplicably cracked in half. Next, a vase that had sat untouched for a year suddenly fell and shattered. Even a drunk neighbor stumbling to the wrong door had become part of the pattern.
Shen Kui, however, was bold by nature. Anyone else might have been driven to frantic prayers and pleas to the gods. But as a staunch atheist, her only complaint was: “If you’re going to cause trouble, can you at least keep it to daylight hours?” After two weeks of this, her biological clock was on the verge of shifting.
The thought of having to return to work the next day filled her with such dread that she couldn’t even fall back asleep.
Since sleep was out of the question, she decided to kill some time on her phone.
She opened WeChat and was instantly flooded with a barrage of messages.
Skimming through them, she noticed most were from long-lost classmates, all sending similar content about a post on a forum.
She opened the chat with her best friend.
SweetK: “Hua Hua, check out this post!”
SweetK: “[Link]: 【HELP】 I’m trapped on the subway!”
SweetK: “Is this Huaixihe?”
The words “Huaixihe” triggered some unpleasant memories for Shen Kui. Pressing her lips together, she clicked the link:
OP: Help, everyone! I think I’m trapped on the subway!
Here’s what happened: I boarded at Huaixihe Station at 3 a.m. The train left the platform but has been stuck in the tunnel ever since. It feels like we’ve been moving for at least ten minutes. Is this normal?
1L: Grabbing a seat! Selling snacks and stools up front~
T/n: L is shorthand for 楼(lóu), which means floor. 1L is the first floor, which is the 1st reply to the post, then 2L is the 2nd floor, which is the 2nd reply, and so on.
2L: Clickbait?
3L: OP, do you rarely take the subway? Look up. There’s usually station info above the carriage doors.
4L: Huaixihe? Sounds familiar, but that shouldn’t be right.
5L: Is OP in City A?
6L replying to 2L: [Thumbs up][Thumbs up]
OP replying to 5L: Yes.
7L: I remember there used to be a Huaixihe Station in City A. But wasn’t it shut down years ago? Something about an accident or something?
8L: Whoa?! Starting off with something this intense?
9L replying to 7L: Exactly! I’m 4L. That’s what I was trying to say earlier!
10L: What’s going on? I’m getting chills. OP, say something!
11L: The Huaixihe incident was quite a big deal back in the day. People in City A who are a bit older would remember it vividly. Because of that accident, an entire subway line was canceled. There’s no Line 1 in City A’s subway system now. The OP is clearly just trying to stir things up here. Everyone, let’s just move on.
The following dozens of comments revolved around the “Huaixihe Line 1 Accident”. Many netizens criticized the OP for exploiting such a tragic event for attention, with some even escalating to personal attacks. It wasn’t until the moderators stepped in and banned a few accounts that the heated discussion gradually cooled down.
Shen Kui scrolled down a couple more pages but didn’t find anything meaningful. Just as she was about to exit, her phone lagged for a second, and the page automatically refreshed. An image slowly loaded before her eyes.
OP: [Image]
OP: Now, do you believe what I said?
The photo was a bit blurry, clearly taken hastily. But even so, Shen Kui recognized it instantly. It was indeed the platform of the Huaixihe Station from the former Line 1 subway.
Almost as soon as she saw it clearly, every hair on her body stood on end. Long-buried, painful memories flashed before her eyes frame by frame…
An upside-down world, a derailed train, deafening roars, and a sea of crimson red…
Her father’s gradually loosening embrace, and her mother’s eyes that would never close again…
Fear, grief, confusion…
As one of the few survivors of that accident, Shen Kui, who was only seven at the time, had carried a weight she never dared to look back on.
She never imagined that, twenty years later, seeing that nightmarish place again would still evoke such a sharp, visceral pain.
She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself, and continued scrolling.
OP: If you don’t believe me, I have more.
OP: [Image][Image][Image]
The photos were dimly lit and poorly composed, clearly taken carelessly. The three images showed the empty platform from different angles. A peeling bench, an outdated trash can, and the half-fallen gilded characters “Huaixihe” on the wall. Everything exuded an air of long-term neglect and decay.
109L: Holy shit, OP, you’re insane! How did you get in there?
110L: This station has been sealed off since the Line 1 incident, right? The OP actually sneaked in to take photos and is using it for clout. Reported.
111L: Wait, doesn’t this thread feel increasingly eerie? It started with someone being trapped on the subway, but now it’s taken this turn. And the OP says she was trapped on the subway, coincidentally on this Line 1, plus these photos… Ugh, the more I think about it, the creepier it gets!
112L replying to 111L: What do you mean? Is it haunted?
113L: Ahhh, don’t say it out loud!
114L: Would anyone really go to such a place just for attention? This line has been sealed for many years. Why is there still lighting in the photos?
115L: This story keeps getting juicier. So excited!
116L: Can the people upstairs please stop overthinking? This is clearly a bottomless, unethical marketing account staging their own show. I even suspect some of the commenters are in cahoots with the OP, deliberately steering the discussion. Isn’t it normal to have lights? Even though it’s sealed off, the electrical circuits are still intact. That’s an easy fix! Everyone, don’t get sidetracked. Let’s report this post and get it buried. The OP is profiting from others’ misery. Aren’t they afraid of shortening their own lifespan?
…Wait.
Shen Kui’s scrolling gradually slowed.
Something wasn’t right.
She flipped back to those photos, carefully examining the details. Although every part seemed to match the scenes in her memory, an unsettling feeling lingered in her heart.
She continued scrolling until she came across this comment.
123L: Speaking of which, such a major train derailment happened here back then, so why is this platform still intact? If it’s been preserved so well all these years, why hasn’t it been reopened? Honestly, if this line were put back into operation, it could greatly ease traffic pressure in the main urban area.
Like a bolt of lightning, Shen Kui’s scalp tingled. She knew what was wrong!
She quickly scrolled further down. Sure enough, others had noticed it, too.
124L: I felt something was off earlier, and the comment above reminded me. I even looked up the reports from back then. Take a look, everyone. This is getting weirder and weirder. [Image]
The image was a screenshot of an officially released news article, with a section circled in red that read: “Huaixihe Station has been sealed due to severe damage. The restoration time is to be determined.”
The publication date was July, twenty years ago. The same month the accident occurred.
In fact, shortly after this news was released, the A City government officially announced the permanent closure of Line 1 subway, with all stations along the route sealed off and remaining unused to this day.
If Huaixihe Station had already been severely damaged back then, how could this person post such photos?
Every detail in the photos aligned with Shen Kui’s memories, yet each object bore traces of time. Judging by the photos, the platform had been quietly and perfectly preserved in the sealed underground for twenty years. It was a clear contradiction to the official reports. Shen Kui couldn’t help but wonder: if these photos were real, why would the authorities deliberately report false information about the platform’s destruction?
Shen Kui continued scrolling.
As soon as the comment on the 124th floor was posted, it sparked a flood of conspiracy theory discussions. Of course, a large number of people also questioned the authenticity of the photos. Some claimed they were photoshopped, others suggested the scene was recreated. But soon, technical experts refuted these claims one by one from a professional standpoint. By this point, the discussion had evolved from debunking the OP to exploring the truth behind the accident twenty years ago.
Shen Kui scrolled a few more pages. One message caught her attention.
234L: What if, and I’m just saying what if, this entire thing was planned from the very beginning? I’ve heard a theory that every major construction project requires a human sacrifice before it can begin. Only then can the spirits and demons underground be appeased, ensuring long-term safety. I remember that Line 1 was the first subway built in City A. During the trial run, they implemented an invitation-only system for passengers. If they hadn’t controlled the number of invitations, the death toll back then would have been far higher.
235L: I get you… I was thinking the same thing…
236L: What are you guys talking about? It can’t be what I’m thinking, right?
237L replying to 236L: It’s exactly what you’re thinking.
238L replying to 234L: That’s such a sensational claim. I know there are rumors about human sacrifices in some remote areas, but this is City A, an international metropolis. Would they really need to kill a hundred people just to build a subway? Wake up, friend, the Qing Dynasty has long fallen.
239L: I agree with the above. Let’s not even mention how absurd this theory is. If it were really a human sacrifice, why would there be survivors? I think there were about seven or eight survivors back then, right? If this were true, wouldn’t the survivors know about it?
As one of the survivors, Shen Kui admits she really had no idea.
She still remembers her mother crouching down to tie her shoelaces before they boarded the train. She remembers it was her first time riding the subway that day. She remembers wearing her favorite pair of little red leather shoes. She remembers her parents holding her hands tightly on the crowded platform as they stepped onto that train together… But everything after that was like a musical note abruptly cut off. Her memory stops at the moment before boarding. Over the years, she could only barely recall a few harrowing fragments.
Her psychologist said it was post-traumatic stress disorder. She was too young when the incident happened to process such a drastic change properly, so her brain erased the memories of the event to protect itself.
Puzzled, she continued scrolling.
With the introduction of the human sacrifice theory, the discussion gradually veered off track. Shen Kui scrolled through dozens of posts debating ghost stories from various places before finally seeing someone asking about the original poster’s whereabouts.
323L: Speaking of which, the OP hasn’t shown up in a while. Are you still on the subway? [playful]
This person clearly didn’t believe the OP’s story and was just treating the thread as entertainment. Unexpectedly, however, the OP appeared.
OP: I’m here waiting for you.
OP: [image]
Shen Kui opened it and saw a photo of seven or eight people standing scattered, men and women alike. What sent chills down her spine was the horrifying realization that one of them was unmistakably herself!
If you enjoy my work and would like to support me, you can buy me a coffee on Ko-fi. Thank you for your support.
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152