Chapter 86: Thread: Woman in the Rain

4th Floor Cat-Eating Fish:

The videotape my father left among his belongings turned out to be such an incomprehensible mess, leaving my friend and me thoroughly disappointed. We turned off the VCR and figured that was the end of it.

A few days passed, and I had completely forgotten about visiting the video rental store. I never expected things to go so wrong.

As I mentioned before, my friend runs an antique video store purely out of nostalgia. In the era of smartphones, hardly anyone notices that videotapes are disappearing.

So, while watching the shop, he also edits videos on the side for extra cash. Otherwise, the place would go under.

He recently took a job editing a wedding video for a newlywed couple. He finished the cut and sent it over. Who could have guessed he'd immediately get a complaint? The couple called, furiously cursing him out and telling him to take a good look at what he'd edited. They had no bad blood, so why would he use AI to insert something so bizarre and bring such bad luck to their new marriage?

My friend was baffled by the scolding. He took his work seriously, and he definitely wouldn't maliciously alter someone's wedding video with AI. But when he clicked open the file he'd sent, he realized something had gone terribly wrong.

That wasn't what he'd edited at all.

In the otherwise normal wedding footage, as the bride walked in her pure white gown, a strange woman followed right behind her. Dressed in gray, she was heavily built with short legs and held up a massive umbrella. No matter how the camera panned, it perfectly obscured her face.

The woman with the umbrella trailed jarringly behind the bride just like that. Not a single person—not the groom, the bride, the officiant, nor the guests—seemed to notice the Woman in the Rain right up until the end of the ceremony.

My friend swore up and down that he hadn't added the eerie woman. When he called to tell me, I didn't believe a word of it. The story was just too bizarre.

It wasn't until he forwarded me the video that I had to accept the truth.

The Woman in the Rain we'd seen on my father's videotape had transferred into this new footage.

5th Floor:

Cat-Eating Fish:

At the time, we still didn't understand what a supernatural event really was.

After that, the nightmare only escalated.

While visiting an art exhibition, I saw the exact same Woman in the Rain inside a master's painting.

She stood there within the canvas, rendered in oil paint. That half-face, forever hidden beneath the umbrella, seemed to be watching me with a cold sneer.

During a video call with my long-distance girlfriend, the woman with the umbrella appeared in the background of her dorm room, standing sinisterly right behind her. When I screamed in terror and told her to turn around, the woman's figure vanished.

The Woman in the Rain appeared more and more frequently in the videos my friend edited, haunting every single one of his projects like a lingering ghost.

Soon, due to a barrage of customer complaints, he was blacklisted by the industry. His reputation was ruined, and his video store went out of business.

The newlywed couple eventually found someone else to edit a new video. But it seems anyone who saw the Woman in the Rain was doomed to a bad end.

I read in the paper that they went missing during their honeymoon.

They were in the Maldives. On that day, it just so happened to be drizzling.

Everyone who saw the Woman in the Rain was struck one by one by this utterly terrifying curse. As soon as it rained, they disappeared.

My friend called me out of nowhere in the middle of the night, crying and screaming that he was probably going to disappear soon too. He said that no matter where he went, he could see a woman in the crowd holding an umbrella, watching him with a sinister stare.

I asked where he was, but he only said one thing—that time was running out—before he hung up.

That was the last time we spoke. The weather forecast called for rain the next day, and sure enough, he went missing. I went to his video store and his home, but I couldn't find a trace of him anywhere.

6th Floor:

Cat-Eating Fish:

Regardless, I know I saw something I shouldn't have. So many people have disappeared. As I type this, it's still raining outside my window, and I feel like a pair of eyes has been silently watching me this entire time.

I have a premonition that I'm going to disappear soon too.

9th Floor:

Netizen C:

So scary. Is the OP being targeted by something unclean? Have you tried calling the police?

10th Floor Netizen D:

Don't get people killed, alright? The cops are human too, so give them a break.

Didn't the thread next door mention a mysterious number that connects to a department called the Supernatural Disaster Bureau? If you encounter any supernatural events, you just call this number and they'll send experts over to handle it.

11th Floor:

Cat-Eating Fish:

I called that mysterious number a long time ago.

The operator on the other end told me they would send someone to handle it right away.

But when I called back five days later to check on the progress, the number had been disconnected.

12th Floor:

Netizen E:

That scares the hell out of me.

—

Are you saying that this mysterious organization sent experts to handle it, but the experts ended up getting handled instead?

13th Floor:

Cat-Eating Fish:

I don't know.

I've already seen her. Across from my window, out on the building's terrace, a woman holding an umbrella has silently appeared. She's come for me.

I don't have much time left. I hope everyone will be careful from now on.

If you see a woman holding an umbrella on any platform, please delete the video immediately and pretend you didn't see anything—

But even if you delete it, it's probably too late. The moment you see her, your fate is sealed—

0

14th Floor Netizen F:

Hang in there, OP!

Gao Tian checked the account status. Cat-Eating Fish had long since been deactivated, the profile picture grayed out.

Out of all the supernatural events he had scrolled past in the last two weeks, the danger level of the Woman in the Rain had to rank in the top three.

He had seen plenty of incidents where experts from the Supernatural Disaster Bureau admitted they couldn't solve the problem, leaving victims to fend for themselves. But this was the first time he had seen a situation where the handlers were taken out instead.

Gao Tian turned off his mobile phone, lay back on his bed, and stared at the ceiling, letting his mind go blank for a moment.

He remembered this curse. In the Chat Group, Ghost Infant had mentioned that when Ghost Cave was still alive, his entire family had been wiped out by the Woman in the Rain.

His temples were throbbing fiercely; he just couldn't shake the description of the Woman in the Rain from his mind.

He was absolutely safe inside the Living Apartment, but if more than half of Shanghai City ended up covered in supernatural pollution, how could anyone remain unscathed? Life in the Apartment wouldn't be too comfortable either, would it?

It couldn't be that the moment he stepped out the door, the main streets outside would be completely filled with ghosts.

—

Gao Tian pulled out his mobile phone, originally planning to call Xia Ta to ask her a few things about supernatural events.

He dialed a few times, but Xia Ta's number remained completely unreachable. She was probably busy.

Beating people up every day had to be exhausting, after all.

Gao Tian pulled up Jiang Yang's number.

Since Xia Ta wasn't around, he was the temporary administrator of the Apartment. He ought to have some unique insights on this Woman in the Rain, right?

Just as he was about to dial, his phone suddenly vibrated.

Incoming caller: Jiang Yang.

He was the one calling first.

Ten minutes ago, Jiang Yang was standing on a crowded subway train.

Recently, Jiang Yang had clearly sensed that supernatural events across all of Shanghai City were rapidly skyrocketing.