At first, Yuan saw nothing but light,so much light that his vision blurred, and his eyes seemed to shih its overwhelming radiance. And then, in a single breath, it vanished.

  Darkness.

  Only the fshing afterimages remained, flickering in his sight like dying embers. A sharp pain stabbed at his eyes, f him to shut them as he colpsed onto the cold ground.

  Taking deep, steady breaths, he ched his fists and slowly reopened his eyes. The pain lingered, but he ig. Then, his voice, dry and rough, broke the silence.

  "Fuck that… where am I now?"

  He cursed his situation endlessly, his mind still struggling to grasp reality. As his vision adjusted, he quickly realized something different.

  He wasn't in that cursed stone room anymore.

  A weak chuckle escaped his lips. "What the hell kind of mess have I gotten myself into?" His voice was hoarse but tinged with relief. "I knew nothing from the start… so I suppose surviving is my first goal. Who knows? Maybe there really are some profous hidden here."

  Just knowing he had escaped that eerie stone prison was enough to calm him. But as he looked around, his breath hitched.

  A forest.

  But not the one he had known his entire life.

  This was not the Ghost Forest.

  For the first time, Yuan stood in a forest untouched by mist. The sight was so unfamiliar,se yet so normal,that he found himself stunned into silence.

  T trees stretched endlessly into the sky, their green leaves swayily in the breeze. Vibrant grass bhe earth, apanied by an endless sea of colorful flowers, their petals shifting in the soft wind. The sky above was clear, a deep, beautiful blue, mirr the stories his grandfather had oold him.

  A forest of life.

  His lips parted in shock. "Am I… outside the Ghost Forest?" His voice was quiet, disbelieving. "Did I actually leave? Was it… that easy?"

  He didn't know.

  Yuan had heard of forests like these,but only in stories. Stories of nds untouched by the cursed mist, of worlds beyond the vilge he had been trapped in for his entire existence.

  Yet now, here he was. Seeing it with his own eyes.

  A small, almost childlike smile spread across his face. His feet, driven by pure instinct, moved forward. With each step, the joy inside him grew, blooming like the flowers around him.

  He walked.

  The thought of leaving the forest,or eveioning where he truly was,never crossed his mind. His body simply moved, lost in the moment. The pain in his skull reminded him he was alive, but his mind drifted further from his past, his purpose… even himself.

  At some point, his steps became hollow, and his expression dulled.

  He fot why he was here.

  He fot where he had e from.

  He became nothing more than a lifeless puppet, drifting endlessly through the vibrant forest.

  Then, something ged.

  The trees thihe forest opened into a vast, serene ke.

  Yua walking,but the sight before him forced his mind awake.

  The ke erfect mirror, refleg the sky's untouched blue with eerie crity. But he wasn't alone.

  Statues.

  tless statues surrouhe ke.

  Sculptures of humans,men and women, frozen in pce, expressions carved iernal silence.

  Yuan's dull eyes slowly regaiheir focus. His mind, once lost in the haze, suddenly snapped back.

  And then, it hit him.

  A sharp, splitting pain tore through his skull, f him to stumble. His body trembled, his breath turned ragged.

  Memories rushed back like a crashing wave.

  The Ghost Forest.The Stoe.The Paviliorange dining hall.

  A choked breath left his lips as realizatioled in. "I was… about to lose myself?" His voice shook with terror.

  He turned,eyes darting back toward the forest he had just left.

  The once-beautiful greenery ed before his very eyes.

  It was no longer a peaceful forest,it was a trap.

  A horrifying, suffog trap that had almost swallowed him whole.

  Yuan's hands ched into trembling fists.

  "So… I'm not out of the Ghost Forest." His voice was barely above a whisper. "I came through the Pavilion… so this must be… the Garden on the Lake."

  His gaze swept across the garden.

  Scattered around the serene, gssy ke, figures of stoood frozen,some half-sunken into the ground, others poised in mid-motion as if caught in time.

  Statues.

  That was what he assumed at first.

  They were arranged in no particur order, some fag the water, others staring off into the distance. Some stood side by side, while others were aloheir arms raised in strange, uaiures.

  A strange unease crept over him.

  Yuan had seen statues before,but these felt different.

  Their expressions were… uling.

  Statues were supposed to be bionless, yet these looked too lifelike, as though someone had captured a person's final moment in stone.

  Some had furrowed brows, mouths slightly open, as if on the verge of speaking. Others looked like they had been mid-scream, their jaws frozen in unnatural tension.

  His fiwitched.

  Something about them unnerved him,but he didn't know why.

  Still, he dismissed the feeling.

  Perhaps the Pavilion's builders had carved them to look like lost travelers, a warning to those who would tread this path.

  He shook his head. "This pce is pying trie."

  A…

  He stepped closer to one.

  It was a man, standing stiffly with his arms raised as if reag for something uhe detailing was impressive,even the folds in his robes were etched with precision, and the texture of his hair looked so real that for a brief sed, Yuan swore he saw it move with the wind.

  The longing iatue's fasettled him.

  His fiwitched again.

  Almost without thinking, he reached out,just to see how the sto beh his fingers.

  The moment his skin made tact

  A scream.

  A wretched, soul-pierg scream tore through the air.

  Yuan jerked back violently, his breath hitg. His eyes darted around.

  But there was no one.

  Nothing but the ke.

  Nothing but the statues.

  His heartbeat thundered in his chest. Had he imagihat?

  He took a shaky breath. His mind ying tricks on him again. Maybe it was just the wind through the trees, or a distant echo from somewhere in the Pavilion.

  But…

  A cold sweat dripped down his back.

  I have to be sure.

  Hesitantly, his trembling hand reached out again,this time, toward a different statue.

  The moment his fingers brushed against the stone

  Another scream.

  Louder.

  More anguished.

  Yuan yanked his hand back, his entire body shaking.

  This wasn't his imagination.

  This was real.

  His stomach ed as his eyes slowly trailed up.

  Then

  His breath caught.

  The statue's eyes had moved.

  They were open now.

  Wide. Horror filled.

  A violent shudder ran through him. He stumbled baearly falling. Then, almost against his will, he tested another.

  And another.

  Each time,a scream.Each time,the same horror filled eyes staring back at him.

  His breath came in ragged gasps. A cold dread seized his chest.

  "These statues… they… they're alive?"

  They had walked the same path.

  They had reached the Pavilion.

  And then…

  They lost themselves.

  Just like he almost had.

  His body trembled. His vision blurred.

  If he had taken even one more step… if his headache hadn't reminded him he was still alive…

  Would he have bee one of them?

  A cold shudder ran through him.

  His voice was barely a whisper. "What a cruel fate."

  He exhaled shakily. "Thank the damn heavens that I survived."

  But now…

  He had to move forward.

  He turned, eyes log onto the forest path ahead,the westath.

  It would lead him back to the Pavilion.

  A bitter chuckle escaped his lips. "Of course. I have to go back."

  He took a deep breath, gng o time at the ke of statues.

  Doubt whispered in his mind. Was this truly the right path?

  But thetered to himself, his voice steady.

  "It doesn't matter. Right … I know nothing."

  "Death is already waiting for me."

  "So I will walk forward, survive… and defy it."

  With that, he turned away from the ke and stepped into the dreadful forest ahead,his resolve unshaken.

  ation.

  s.

  Only the path forward.

  Walking through the dreadful forest toward the west, Yuan's mind was now clear, allowing him to observe his surroundings with sharper awareness.

  The forest itself was dimly lit,the thick opy of leaves and t trees blocked most of the sunlight, letting only a few scattered beams pierce through. Yet, despite the ck of light, the sery was strangely pleasing to the eye.

  From time to time, clusters of berries caught his attention, growing in abundance along the bushes. Some were deep red, others dark blue, and some even had a strange violet hue. Yuan had seen berries before, but these… they seemed different.

  His stomach tightened. Hunger slowly crept in.

  Yuan carefully examihe berries, pig out the ones he reized—ones he knew were safe to eat. After ensuring they were not poisonous, he hesitated only for a moment before putting a few into his mouth.

  A sudden burst of fvor spread across his tongue.

  These berries…

  "They're delicious!"

  pared to the ones he had eaten ba his vilge, these were far juicier, sweeter, and far more refreshing. He couldn't help but take a few more, sav their taste as he felt a bit of his strength return.

  After eating to his satisfa, Yuan gathered a handful more, st them inside his small pouch before tinuing his journey.

  Now with a full stomach, his body felt more at ease,at least for the time being.

  For what felt like an hour, he walked steadily forward, the icy wind brushing against his skin, whispering through the trees. Other than the violent gusts of wind, nothing else happened. Ne figures. No eerie voices. Just the endless, dark forest stretg before him.

  Then, in the distance

  A break irees.

  Yuan's heart skipped a beat.

  A.

  A sudden rush of excitement overtook him, and without thinking, he ran toward the clearing. A small smile formed on his face as he finally stepped out of the forest.

  And what awaited him left him breathless.

  There was his time.

  Instead

  A massive pavilion.

  It stood before him like a silent giant, its t structure far rger than he could have ever imagined. Yuan tilted his head back, trying to see its peak, but it stretched so high that it nearly touched the sky itself.

  A…

  It was not the same pavilion he had seen in the painting from the eerie dining hall.

  No,this pavilion looked a, fotten, and dangerously fragile, as if a siouch could send it crumbling into dust. The once grand pilrs were now cracked and chipped, covered in yers of moss and vines. Deep carvings of tless patterns lis walls,patterns that had not bee in the painting.

  Most uling of all

  The square shaped symbol.

  It was etched everywhere.

  The moment Yuan id eyes on it, a wave of familiarity hit him.

  "Where have I seen this before…?"

  His mind raced, searg through his memories,until suddenly, it clicked.

  Two years ago. His vilge.

  There had been an old, crumbling pavilion,one of the three a buildings left abandoned feions. The adults had long deemed it too old and unstable to use, so they tore it down, pnning to rebuild something new in its pce.

  And now…

  Yuan's breath hitched.

  This pavilion looked exactly like it.

  His hands ched into fists. "What is this pce…? How is it ected to my vilge?"

  But no answer would e.

  Not until he left this pce.

  Determio find out the truth, Yuan began to circle the pavilion, searg for arance. He walked almost aire round before finally spotting a set of doors at its base.

  Slowly, cautiously, he stepped closer.

  The patterns on the doors began to glow.

  A soft, golden light pulsed through the intricate carvings, spreading outward like ripples on water. Moments ter, the entire pavilion began to glow as well.

  Yuan's eyes widened.

  For the first time since arriving, he felt genuine shock.

  As the glow intensified, the massive doors trembled and then, with a deep, rumbling groan, they began to open.

  A sudden dread crept into Yuan's chest.

  This could be the right path.

  Or it could be a deadly trap.

  But in the end, it didn't matter.

  He didn't know what was right .

  And with atio in his heart, he stepped forward.

  Crossing the threshold, he ehe pavilion,into the unknown.