Midnight Paranormal Handbook

Midnight Paranormal Handbook Author: Ma Boyong

Prologue

"Alright, let's begin."

She brushed her hair back, slowly looked around, and said seriously. The other three nodded, and all four of them stretched out to the center of the table, crossed their hands, and held their wrists in the air. Then they placed a freshly sharpened pencil in the gap between their hands and held it tightly, the tip of the pencil lightly touching the white paper on the table.

The room was silent, save for the slightly tense breathing of the four girls. Four candles were lit at the four corners of the table, their flickering light casting uncertain shadows on their faces.

It was midnight in early summer, the clock had long since struck twelve, and the entire room was enveloped in a dim, yellow candlelight, while outside the slightly ajar window lay a stagnation of darkness.

"Ouija board spirit, Ouija board spirit, please come out! Ouija board spirit, Ouija board spirit, please come out..."

All four of them closed their eyes, their lips moved slightly, and they silently recited in their hearts.

Nearly a minute later, a breeze seemed to blow in from outside the window, causing the flames of the four candles to tremble. At the same time, all four people felt an invisible pressure on their hands, gentle yet cold. The pencil moved slowly with this pressure, its tip gently drawing a circle on the paper, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop slightly.

"They've arrived..."

Someone whispered something, and the four of them leaned back in unison, their hands still tightly gripping their pencils.

"...Let's start asking questions."

"Hmm... let me think, Ouija board, Ouija board, what was I in my past life?" A girl hesitated for a long time, swallowed hard, and asked softly.

After she finished asking her question, the dormitory fell silent. Everyone held their breath and stared intently at the white paper.

"Look, the pen is moving!"

They felt that invisible pressure driving the pencil to move across the paper, initially just unintentional lines, but gradually taking shape, seemingly forming several words:

"I'm on Huanhua Road."

Ring road?

Huanhua Road is the name of the neighborhood northwest of their dormitory, but what does that have to do with their past life? The girls looked at each other, completely bewildered.

"Ouija board, Ouija board, what was I in my past life?" the girl asked again, mustering her courage.

The pencil glides silently across the paper.

"I'm at the East Gate"

"..."

The east gate refers to the east gate of their school's dormitory area, but... this has absolutely nothing to do with her question.

The four girls exchanged confused glances, a sense of unease rising within them for no apparent reason.

The pencil, held between four hands, continued to move "scratching" across the paper, its speed increasing and the writing becoming clearer.

"I'm in Building Number One"

"I'm in Building 2."

"I'm in Building 3."

The faces of everyone in the dormitory changed instantly; their dormitory was on the third floor of Building 4.

"You...does anyone have something metal on them?"

The oldest girl suddenly remembered something and asked in a trembling voice, "There's a huge taboo when playing with a Ouija board: the person playing can't carry any metal objects, otherwise something bad might happen. As for what might happen, it depends on what kind of spirit you've summoned..."

Upon hearing this, the other three all lowered their heads and checked with their other hands.

"I don't have any here."

"I don't have any here either."

"No... Ah!"

The last girl suddenly screamed. She noticed that her belt buckle was made of metal. She had been careless and overlooked this before playing with the Ouija board.

The four of them froze, their hands holding pencils suspended in mid-air. A chilling sense of terror crept up their spines like a venomous snake, gripping their hearts. Each of them found their hands and feet icy cold.

"I'm on the second floor of number four."

The words on the paper appeared slowly and deliberately, a huge sense of heaviness enveloping the entire room. The square of darkness outside the window seemed to be watching them. A girl stared wide-eyed, wanting to cry, but dared not make a sound. She bit her lip tightly, her expression distorted with fear.

I'm at the door.

Upon seeing this line of text, the dormitory fell into a deathly silence. The four people sat frozen in their seats like statues, their four hands still holding pencils, suspended over the paper.

There was no wind in the room, yet the flickering candle flame seemed guided by something, stretching towards the doorway. The four shadows were stretched long, swaying between the door and the table in the candlelight… Suddenly, the candle flame went out abruptly, plunging the dormitory into heavy darkness. In the brief moment before the candlelight disappeared, the four of them saw the last sentence the Ouija board had written on the paper:

I am among you...

Chapter One

Midnight Paranormal Handbook by Ma Boyong, Chapter One

What is depression?

In this season, even the warm sunshine cannot bring any more vitality. This bustling city is always immersed in a desolate and lonely atmosphere: the towering buildings have a gray and decadent hue, the pedestrians on the road are all in a hurry, and the telephone poles on both sides of the street are like withered trees that have lost all their leaves, making the heart float with a depressing leaden-gray cloud all day long.

For some reason, Shen Fengxi felt a subtle sense of belonging to this season. Standing on the street, the backpack on his shoulder grew heavier and heavier. He began to feel himself sinking deeper and deeper into a gloomy, oppressive well, sinking to the surface and never to rise again.

What could possibly make this handsome sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy so melancholy? Is it budding romance, heavy academic workload, or a friendship facing a crisis?

No, the real reason is:

He got lost...

"Nonsense! I just don't know where I am!" Shen Fengxi suddenly raised his voice and shouted, attracting curious glances from passersby.

Shen Fengxi scanned the surroundings with a murderous look. It was a bustling street, with five wide avenues stretching in different directions within his field of vision. The street signs were even more dazzling than McDonald's menu.

He tried to find other metaphors, but the image of McDonald's creamy yellow "M" kept popping into his mind. No wonder, he hadn't eaten for most of the day, and his pockets were as empty as his stomach.

"Ugh, I don't want to die like this, my body rotting in the street. I still have life to enjoy! I've never eaten a real lobster! And someone still owes me thirty-seven yuan!" Shen Fengxi wailed incoherently in his mind, gritting his teeth as he looked around at the streets on either side. This was his first day in this metropolis. He had just gotten off the train and was swept up by the surging crowds into a maze-like streetscape, where he had inexplicably boarded the wrong bus. As was his habit over the past ten years, the god of directionality had once again favored this loyal believer.

Suddenly, Shen Fengxi sensed something amiss. He abruptly turned around, his gaze fixed on a point in the distance. The end of his gaze was a two-story internet cafe with the words "Blue Broadband" written on it. Bicycles were parked outside, and people were constantly

……