Great Xia Federation, Yue City.Amid a series of sharp thud-thud chopping sounds, Zhou Su cracked open his bleary eyes. His head was pounding, his vision swimming, every bone in his body sore and swollen.He glanced at the time. 5:08 a.m.Rage surged up instantly. Irritation flooded his whole body; right now he wished he could grab a kitchen knife and storm upstairs.A grandmother and her precious grandson lived above him.The old woman not only pinched pennies to a pathological degree, she also adored stirring up trouble and guilt-tripping people with moral grandstanding.In this neighborhood, she was… “universally acclaimed.”As for the “big, chubby, obedient grandson” she’d raised with utmost care—one look and you’d know exactly what kind of kid he was: a textbook case of Over-Indulgent Grandson Syndrome.Every time the boy caused trouble and someone came knocking, the old woman would shrug it off with her usual lines:“What’s wrong with that?”“He’s just a child!”“You’re an adult—how can you argue with a child?”Just that thought alone made Zhou Su’s blood pressure spike.The thud-thud he was hearing came from the grandma chopping pork.Because her darling grandson loved wontons, and in her mind, meat was only delicious if freshly chopped, she went out before dawn every few days to buy pork and then pounded it into mince at five in the morning.This wasn’t a one-time thing—she did it constantly, always around 5 a.m., to the point that Zhou Su’s nerves were fraying.He had talked to the landlord. He had called the police.But anyone with experience already knows how that goes.Every time the cops came, the old woman would instantly turn into a shrieking shrew, crying and screaming:“You just bully old people and children!”“Everyone, come look! Someone’s trying to force an old woman to kill herself!”The officers suggested she switch to a quiet electric meat grinder—faster and neighbor-friendly.Her exact reply was:“Machines grind out technology and bad vibes. You eat that stuff and get cancer.”Faced with such an unyielding slab of human gristle, even the officers could only retreat.In the relentless, soul-piercing thud-thud, Zhou Su couldn’t sleep anymore. But he also lacked the strength to get up. Bloodshot eyes open, he stared emptily at the ceiling.He’d gone to sleep around three in the morning.Why so late?That was thanks to his other neighbors—a crew of middle-aged, tattooed, shaved-head, gold-chain-wearing “brothers.”They looked like hardened gangsters, but in reality they were just laborers—construction workers who had to play nice for their supervisors.That didn’t stop them from gathering after work, calling each other “brother,” and loudly “discussing the world.”Zhou Su didn’t despise that sort of thing.As long as they didn’t do it after midnight.But they did: drinking, guessing riddles, shouting loud enough to shake the walls.And these guys were even harder to deal with than the grandmother-grandson duo.Why? Because once, when they held a late-night gathering, the grandma went up to scold them.She came back downstairs defeated and silent.Classic bully-the-weak, fear-the-strong routine.The police had warned them too, but their answer was always the same:“We’re all just trying our best to live.”Besides, they didn’t actually stay in this building most of the time.“I might be the most miserable superpowered person alive…”Zhou Su sighed inside.Yes—despite there being no supernatural phenomena in this world—he actually had an ability.When he willed it, a deep-crimson ancient book would appear before his eyes.Golden patterns were carved along the page edges, but it had no title.In the lower-right corner was a single line: “Owner: Zhou Su.”Other than that, the book was empty—completely blank.A genuine “book of no words.”Only he could see it, and he couldn’t manifest it physically, not even with sleight of hand.“Did I develop a mental illness? Is the book just a hallucination?”He’d asked himself that more than once.But that didn’t feel right either.Even mental illness had logic—who [N O V E L I G H T] hallucinated a completely useless ancient book?Upstairs, the chopping continued. Sleep was impossible.He grabbed his phone and scrolled through videos to calm his nerves.He’d already found a new apartment. As soon as the previous tenants moved out, he would sign the contract and pay.He had chosen this place originally because it was cheap and spacious.And back then, the “Wretched Dragon and Poisonous Phoenix” (the grandma and her spawn) hadn’t moved in yet. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have rented this place—no matter how cheap.“All right… time to get up and work. I’ve got a batch of rush orders anyway.”After lying in bed a little longer, he felt slightly better and got up.As he slowly put on his shoes, a snarling demon lunged at him from beside the bed.Expressionless, he pushed it aside.At the corner of the room, a blood-red alien creature opened its cavernous jaws as if ready to swallow him whole.Opening the bathroom door, he was greeted by the ghostly Sadako lunging at him, eyes glowing bloody red, giving him a jump-scare face-to-face.Calmly, Zhou Su shoved Miss Sadako into a corner, brushed his teeth unhurriedly, and inspected her through the mirror.Perfect.“For something I made myself, it really is convincing,” he praised inwardly.Zhou Su was a prop maker—more specifically, a horror prop maker.He specialized in crafting props for haunted houses and horror films.His work was detailed, realistic, and reasonably priced, earning him a solid reputation in the industry.Recently, he’d taken on a large commission from a soon-to-open mega haunted house.That was why ghosts filled every inch of his tiny apartment.Materials, tools, half-finished corpses—there was barely space to walk.In Yue City’s overcrowded inner ring, finding an affordable apartment with space to work was nearly impossible.That was why his move kept getting delayed.Even in broad daylight, a room filled with horror props could make someone’s hair stand on end.At night? Even worse.The hardest moments were always bathroom trips in the middle of the night.Imagine waking up groggy, stumbling through dim light, and seeing a cluster of monsters staring back at you.A timid person might have a heart attack.In the beginning, Zhou Su had been terrified too.Four or five times later, he just… adapted.Even he was shocked by how fast he got used to it. For a while, he wondered whether his real superpower was “Ghost Immunity Syndrome.”Three years had passed since he started making horror props.By now, he’d reached a level of desensitization that bordered on abnormal—he could sleep hugging a life-sized Sadako and eat dinner while staring at a blood-spattered butcher.Because of the job, he had very few friends.But he didn’t care. Horror props gave him a strange sense of fulfillment—an immersive type of joy.Ordinary families didn’t produce this kind of “personality.”Maybe it had something to do with his childhood in an orphanage.One of the caretakers had been a horror-movie fanatic.Zhou Su’s favorite activity was sneaking onto the caretaker’s desktop computer after work and watching the horror movies stored there—over and over again.After washing up, he began working. The chopping upstairs had stopped, but he knew it wasn’t over yet. Soon there would be a “second shift.”Sure enough—balloon popping, floor scratching, jumping and stomping.The grandson had woken up.Zhou Su had already bought an automatic vibration device online.Before moving out, he planned to keep the rental for an extra week so the neighbors could enjoy his “gift.”He worked straight through noon. After lunch, exhaustion consumed him.The upstairs had quieted down.He grabbed a fabric three-headed serpent prop as a pillow and collapsed onto his soft mattress.The moment his body sank into it, he fell into a deep sleep.When he woke again, he felt refreshed.He checked the time—7:45 p.m.The room felt stuffy.He pulled open the curtains to get some air, lifted his head—and froze.A bright full moon hung in the sky.But that wasn’t the issue.The moon… was turning red.Darker and darker—until it became a deep, blood-colored scarlet.A blood moon? Some astronomical event today?He grabbed his phone to search, but only found old articles.Feeling oddly excited, he decided to take a picture.As he raised his phone, his hand trembled violently—almost dropping it.A cold, mechanical electronic voice suddenly echoed in his mind:【Blue Star, Designation: 07855. This planet has been classified as a Trial Field. Blood Moon Rules will soon be issued.】Blood Moon… Rules?What was that supposed to mean?Had his mental illness finally kicked in?Zhou Su was completely bewildered.

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