The Relic Designer

Chapter 7 — The Wedding Portrait

Room 2507 remained almost untouched, every trace of the late Mr. Zhao preserved — the cabinet, the sofa, the coffee table. Everything the deceased had once used was still there.He had lived simply; the apartment’s plain decor exuded a cold, silent emptiness. Rain hammered against the windowpanes, and though it was barely six in the evening, the sky outside had already sunk into shadow.

Serena Black didn’t turn on the lights. She walked straight to the balcony and gazed down into the courtyard, watching the rain cascade through the air.

After a long internal struggle, Ethan Cross finally stepped inside Room 2507. His attention was immediately drawn to the wall above the sofa — a large frame draped with black cloth.

“Want to see what’s behind it?” Serena asked softly without turning around. “You can lift it, if you dare.”

Ethan hesitated, then tugged the corner of the fabric. The cloth fell away, revealing an enormous black-and-white wedding photo.

In the photograph, Ethan and Serena were smiling — but only Ethan appeared in color. Serena, beautiful and radiant in her gown, was rendered entirely in grayscale.

“Another memorial portrait?” Ethan murmured. He had no memory of ever taking such a photo with her, and yet there it was — haunting and all too real.

“Do you remember anything now?” Serena turned toward him. Her expression was tender, even gentle — yet something deeply unnatural lingered beneath her calm.

“What really happened that night, Ethan? The night of the Ghost Festival, in that tunnel?”

Ethan didn’t step far from the door; every muscle in his body was poised to run.

“You took a bus you were never meant to take,” Serena said. “You went somewhere you were never meant to go. Your mind erased it to protect you — because what you saw would have broken you.”

Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “Then how do you know what happened? You only exist because of my game — you shouldn’t even know about that night.”

“Because I was the one who brought you home,” she whispered, taking a step closer. “Do you remember my route in our game To Our Vanished Love? I could always find you, always watch you. That obsession… that hunger… it didn’t fade when I woke up in your world.”

Her words chilled him to the bone. He had never imagined a romance game could be this terrifying.

“What did you see in that tunnel?” he asked.

“The walls were covered with bodies — twisted, screaming faces sealed into the concrete. You were talking to… something. Walking deeper and deeper. I pulled you out.” Her voice trembled, and for the first time, fear glimmered in her eyes.

Ethan tried to recall. “I heard… voices. But I can’t remember what they said.”

“They said the world is unraveling. Spirits are loose. Monsters are real. Every horror game you ever made is bleeding into reality. The only way to weaken them is to make others play your games — to share their curse. You can lead them through… or feed them to it. Each choice has its price.”

Serena paused. “That voice told you that you should’ve died that night. That it gave you another chance to live. You made a deal, Ethan.”

Ethan’s pulse quickened. “So I really… died in that tunnel?”

“If you don’t believe me, find the other passengers,” Serena said. “Some of them survived. I saw them.”

“There were survivors?”

“Yes. I didn’t see their faces clearly… If I had, I would’ve hunted them down. I need to understand what really happened.” She smiled faintly — the kind of smile that didn’t belong on a human face.

Ethan took another step back, inching toward the door.

“Leaving so soon?” Serena’s voice was almost playful. “You don’t even remember what you promised me down there, do you?”

“I don’t.”

“That’s fine. You will.”

From inside her blouse, Serena pulled out a black-and-white portrait — another death photo. “When I woke up in this world, this picture appeared beside me. And with every girl I… removed, from our game, my wedding gown in the photo gains a little more color.”

She compared it to the large photo on the wall. Indeed, the dress in her smaller picture was beginning to bloom with faint hues.

“The other girls were never truly alive. They were echoes — digital ghosts. But when they came into this world, they became something. Killing them might be the only way to free myself.”

“So you slaughtered them?” Ethan’s voice dropped. Eight girlfriends. Three days. Madness.

The cast-aside side character — obsessive, deranged, abandoned — had become the most terrifying entity of all.

“I just want to be like you,” Serena whispered. Her tone quickened, her pupils dilated. “Do you know what I discovered? To make a game manifest in reality, you need three things — a house where death just occurred, a relic from that world, and… you.”

Ethan finally understood. She wanted to hunt the ghosts born from his games. To devour them before they fully formed.

“The house is the stage. The relic is the ticket. And you, Ethan…” She clutched his shirt. “You’re the gate.”

Her eyes burned crimson as she opened her handbag — inside were eight blank portraits, waiting to be filled.

“I’ve got plenty of tickets.”

“Calm down,” Ethan said quietly. “It’s only a theory — but maybe we can test it. Tonight. Here.”

He was no stranger to danger — a psychological counselor for inmates at Henshan Maximum Security Prison, a man used to monsters wearing human faces. He knew how to keep them from biting.

But before Serena could respond, footsteps echoed down the hall. The doorbell rang.

Serena quickly threw the black cloth over the wedding photo. Ethan opened the door — and standing in the dim corridor was Agent Mercer, his scarred face glistening with rain.

His voice trembled. “You need to leave. Now. This room… is not safe.”