The basement has appeared again!

I still haven’t grasped the pattern of the basement’s appearances and disappearances, so its timing doesn’t surprise me anymore. I had already braced myself for the worst, planning to spend a great deal of time investigating how to make the basement reappear. Yet, here it is, surfacing on its own. How could I not feel a surge of delight?

If Chang’an and Ma Zao were here, they might regard the basement as an ominous harbinger. But to me, this is nothing less than an auspicious beginning.

I lifted the wooden cover, and the dark, unfathomable entrance revealed itself before me once again.

Unlike the last time, I’m observing this basement at night, all alone, with a vastly different state of mind. Chang’an once worried that something "unclean" might crawl out from the depths of the basement, but I couldn’t empathize with his concerns at the time. For me, during the daytime, when I was with Chang’an, this space seemed infused with the mundane atmosphere of everyday life, a place where ghosts would never dare to tread.

But now, I feel as though this space has transformed into a mystical realm disconnected from reality. The distant clamor of the city has completely faded from my consciousness, and anything that happens here belongs solely to my personal “ghost story.” There are no other witnesses—no matter how I try to explain it to others, no one would ever believe me. In other words, this has already become a domain where strange creatures and spirits can roam freely without restraint.

This time, Chang’an isn’t here to stop me, and Agent Kong won’t suddenly knock on the door to interrupt me either.

What would happen if I went downstairs to the room below and drilled a hole in the ceiling where the basement is located? I pondered this with great curiosity. But if doing so caused the basement to disappear, that would be a shame, not to mention that the room below is occupied. I didn’t want to disrupt the mysterious atmosphere that only exists when I’m alone, fearing that if I startled anyone else, the basement might be scared away and hide again.

I set my backpack down on the floor and took out a wired camera and a selfie stick. Connecting the camera to my phone, I secured it to the selfie stick and extended it into the depths of the basement. Then, I turned my attention to my phone screen.

Unlike what I had imagined last time, the phone screen displayed nothing.

It seemed that the wired camera was also ineffective—the signal-blocking mechanism inside and outside the basement appeared to work regardless of whether it was wired or wireless. If that was the case, why wasn’t the human body affected by the disruption of electronic signals? Could it truly be because the human body holds a unique status in supernatural events?

If I were a scientist, I might pursue a more rigorous conclusion. But I was perfectly content to accept this mysticism-tinged explanation.

Next, I retracted the wired camera and selfie stick, switched my phone to video mode, and turned on the flashlight function. Using the selfie stick, I extended the phone into the depths of the basement.

After about a minute of recording, I retrieved the phone and looked down to check the footage.

To be honest, I had prepared myself for the possibility that "electronic devices wouldn’t function properly in a supernatural space," as so many horror stories suggest. But this time, it exceeded my expectations—the phone had successfully captured the scene beneath the basement.

The scene matched the first impression that Chang’an and I had —it was indeed a basement.

Moreover, it was quite a spacious basement, roughly two-thirds the size of a classroom at a glance. Naturally, there were no doors or windows installed on the walls. The interior hadn’t been renovated in any way; the floor and walls were bare concrete, and the space was filled with lonely gray shelves, resembling the remnants of a defunct convenience store.

Most of the shelves were empty, their surfaces thickly coated with dust. The few items present consisted only of open, yellow cardboard boxes scattered sparsely. There was basically no place to hide, and I couldn’t see any signs of monsters, ghosts, or other supernatural entities.

It’s hard to say—what if electronic devices simply can’t capture ghosts? Or perhaps there are creatures as small as insects or mice lurking? One cannot use common sense to judge the supernatural.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Suddenly, I noticed something strange in the video footage.

At the base of the far wall in the basement, it seemed like something was reflecting light.

I pressed my eyes tightly against the screen, trying to make out what it was. But I couldn’t see it clearly. It wasn’t an issue with the camera angle; the object was simply too small and too far from the shooting position to discern its true nature.

I could barely make out that it probably wasn’t a piece of broken glass or anything like that. Besides, there were no other glass items or any reflective objects in this basement.

Whatever it was, it stood out starkly in this otherwise barren basement.

It was one thing before I noticed it, but once I did, that unknown object seemed to exude an indescribable presence. Even though it was just “something unclear in a dim basement,” it felt like a drop of black ink on a pristine white sheet of paper. Before I realized it, all my attention had been drawn to it.

What is that?

I kept turning over this inexplicable feeling in my mind as I put away my phone.

So, now that I’ve seen it, should I just head home?—Absolutely not.

This was just an appetizer, barely enough to whet my appetite. Now that it had me practically drooling, there was no way I could walk away. Forget it.

Next, I was going to venture deeper into this basement.

---

I had envisioned the potential dangers I might encounter.

For me, the least threatening scenario would be one involving physical dangers.

To exaggerate, even if ten Godzillas suddenly spawned in this basement, I have my “second form” as a trump card, which places me in an inherently invincible position.

But if what appeared was a ghost with mysterious and unfathomable powers, that would be a different story. If it could unleash mental or curse-based attacks on me, I couldn’t guarantee I’d be able to resist. After all, I’ve never been subjected to that kind of metaphysical assault before.

The most threatening scenario, however, would undoubtedly be if the entrance disappeared after I went down, leaving me completely trapped inside with no way out.

There might be other, more clever and sophisticated ways to investigate the interior without taking personal risks. But is there truly a better way to experience this basement than directly venturing into it myself? Words, pictures, videos… I have no interest in relying on such mundane means to understand a mysterious and otherworldly space. I want to measure the space beneath the basement with my own two feet and breathe in the air of this surreal realm with my own lungs.

This is why I came here.

To put it bluntly, I was fully aware that my rationality had been significantly diminished at this moment. In my pursuit of a "transcendental adventure," this basement held an irresistible allure in my eyes, one I simply couldn’t resist with reason alone. No matter what, I had to explore it.

I stared at the staircase descending into the basement, then stepped forward, placing my right foot on the first step.

It felt as if I had stepped into a deep, murky swamp—my foot had entered a time and space that didn’t exist in reality, sending a tingling sensation through my entire body. I took a deep breath, then lifted my other foot and continued downward.

One step, another step, and another... I slowly descended the staircase, while the floor above me gradually rose until it was over my head.

I couldn’t help but glance upward. The real world had now transformed into a square opening above me. Forcing myself to look away, I extended my right hand and summoned the "firefly."

A speck of orange-red light appeared in the air, glowing brightly. Just as I suspected, the "firefly" wasn’t incapable of being summoned below the basement; it simply couldn’t exist here while I remained outside the basement.

The "fireflies" appeared one after another, quickly multiplying to two or three dozen. Under my command, they dispersed to various corners of the basement, glowing even brighter and illuminating the space as if it were daylight.

My feet landed on the basement floor, and I began to survey my surroundings. There were no monsters, no ghosts, and for now, no other strange phenomena. This entire space was now within the range of my perception. Not only was there no visible danger, but I couldn’t even spot a single insect. It was as if life had completely vanished from this place.

After a brief pause, I moved directly toward the far end of the basement.

Soon, I saw clearly what the reflective object from the video actually was.

The object lying at the base of the wall was an irregularly shaped, hard substance, entirely black and roughly the size of a ping-pong ball. Although it was black, its material resembled jade, which is why it reflected a faint glimmer when illuminated.

I picked it up and examined it repeatedly in my hand. This black jade wasn’t just visually similar to jade—it also had the same smooth, warm texture to the touch. However, the edges were a bit sharp, and carelessness might even result in a cut.

From my judgment, this black jade didn’t seem like a complete object. It was more likely a fragment broken off from a larger jade artifact.

I looked around again but found no object that seemed to be its original source, nor did I find a second fragment.

I refocused my attention on the black jade. Even though the floor was icy to the touch, this piece of jade didn’t transmit any sense of coldness—or warmth, for that matter. It was as though the concept of temperature didn’t apply to it at all.

What is this thing?

I examined it even more closely.

And at that moment, something unbelievable happened.

The instant I focused all my attention on the black jade, it felt as though the darkness of the jade, like a black hole capturing light, "caught" my gaze.

By the time I realized something was wrong, I couldn’t shift my gaze anymore; not even my eyeballs could move. The black jade began to grow larger in my field of vision. I couldn’t tell if it was actually growing or if my face was involuntarily moving closer to it.

In the blink of an eye, the black jade filled my entire vision, and my consciousness seemed to fall, crashing directly into the black jade.

Then, in the pitch-black darkness, a gray mist began to materialize.