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A couple of usual stuff displays as we open the game.
Shiying Studio, the developer of the game. Their name means “picking up flowers”.
The publisher of the game.
A warning for horror game.
And a simple manual on controls.
And finally, our title screen. A willow, some shades of mountains in the background, nothing else in particular. Select “New Game” will start our game.
Title BGM: 零落成泥 (Dust to Dust)
Most parts of this game uses royalty free music or licensed music for commercial use, but there are also several musics original to this game. The title BGM is one of them.
Most of those BGMs used in game are also background music that are used to set the horror atmosphere, so I'm only listing important or drastic changes of music in this LP.
The usual “all happenings in this game is fictional” warning. A warning about autosave also displays before this.
A weird background music begins to play (this one is licensed instead of original) while a quote shows up on screen……
Ghosts relish devouring sins, possessing sinners,
Crushing their bones to suck their marrows,
And imposing eternal suffering on them.
- Mantra of Suffering
It is supposed to be a quote from Avatamsaka Sutra, but I didn’t find anything similar anywhere. Let’s just treat it as some random lines made up by the author.
The screen slowly fades in to a scene where two policemen seems to be talking.
The poster on the street light pole looks like some sort of advertisement for traditional cure.
The slogan painted on the brick wall reads Believe in Science, not Superstition.
The street light flickers for a moment before the policeman on the left turns around and speak.
This is just my luck. How did a perfectly functioning car break down all of a sudden?
It seems his name is Zheng Ming (郑明). Zheng is his surname, while Ming(明) means Light. His name is also a homonym of “Proving” if read altogether.
Chinese names can be hard to memorize – so we’ll be just calling (almost) everyone by their surnames from now on.
Zheng, the informant is still waiting in town. Do you want to leave the car here?
And the other policeman is named Lin Lixun (林理洵). His name means “rational and honest”. It can also be read as a homonym to “searching for the truth”.
There’s no need to rush. Dealing with arson is not our responsibility.
This is just great. My car broke down. Captain Lu will yell at me!
Captian Lu seems like a nice person…
You just transferred here, so you have no idea how Captain Lu is like. If she finds out the car had broken down, she will say…
‘I told you to take good care of the cars, didn’t I?’
‘If you are chasing after a dangerous gangster…what are you going to do if the car breaks down?’
‘Can you imagine the consequences?!’
I’ll try to fix the car. I’m good at this.
Alright, Zheng. Thanks.
We’re colleagues, no need to be so courteous with me.
Ah, the flashlight is almost dead.
Lixun, can you bring me a battery? There should be a small store on the street.
Fine.
After that, Zheng goes back to his car, and Lin turns around. It seems this young policeman is our protag here.
The streetlight flickers once again.
Half an hour ago, a coffin caught on fire during a funeral in Qingtan Town.
The informant claimed that it was arson.
Our superior sent us to investigate the matter.
This is my first time working as a criminal investigator.
And we can move freely as Lin after he had his recollections.
The game uses magnifying glass icon to show what objects can be interacted with…and our tutorial object seems to be the slogan brushed on the wall.
“Believe in science, not superstition.”
Qingtan Town is a secluded town in the mountains. I heard they had retained many superstitious customs.
A more accurate translation would be reject superstition here.
The name of the town, Qingtan (青潭), means “green pond”. The slogan on the wall was common among rural areas of China, mostly painted in the last century (along with other slogans advocating family planning, treating female children equally, and so on). Some of them can still be seen on the walls if you happen to drive through the mountains.
The atmosphere was clear when we were outside the town, but as we step inside the fog seems to have gathered a bit. The red light flickers for a couple times before we get closer.
The board reads “Cigar, Liquor, and Non-staple Foods” (which usually means Snacks in the context) – it seems this is the small general store our colleague mentioned. Although we don’t see any person, and a basin is put on the counter instead……
There’s a basin full of paper ash on the counter. The ember glows from time to time.
……A burning basin. Which should usually be used to burn joss papers to the deceased.
Well, we’re having a funeral in town so it’s nothing particularly strange.
”Joss papers” posted:
In Chinese traditions, people would burn papercrafts (mostly money, but occasionally also other items like house models) to their dead relatives in funeral, festivals and other special days; They believe the dead can receive them as real items in the afterworld this way.
Joss papers may be burnt in the place where funeral was hold, in front of the grave, or randomly at the side of the road. It’s less practiced nowadays because of the harmful effects to health of the fumes, and the potential danger of a fire.
The light flickers again.
So the store owner seems to be here after all…
I’ll take an AA battery.
Small Store Owner Here you go, two yuan.
The writings on the battery are “Mercury-free Alkaline Battery, Strong Power and Environment Friendly”
Hmm, seems we cannot proceed any further for now. Zheng is probably waiting for us……
The face of the store owner is also revealed. A normal middle-aged man, despite looking a little pale. The basin still burns in front of him.
If we talk about him again, only a sentence of message will be shown: The store owner looks at the counter emotionlessly.
Looks like our colleague is still working with the car.
Zheng, I got the battery.
Thanks buddy, I’ll wrap up here, you can go and check out the scene first.
Since you’re new here, you can take this chance to familiarize yourself with the place.
Yes.
And we can freely move again after the short conversation. Going back to Zheng and he will tell you:
The funeral is held at the center of the town. You’ll get there if you walk straight toward the right.
We should probably do exactly that.
Oh, it seems the store owner has gone back to sleep.
While the fire is still burning.
We walk past a clinic after the general store. The poster on the wall was an ad encouraging adults to have their children vaccinated – a reflection to the child immunization policy at the end of 1990s.
Some credits also fades in as we go further.
The funeral shed is on the right.
We stopped at the brick wall of a shop with “Cabinet of Colored Lanterns” plaque. The plaque indicates it’s a shop for lanterns and probably some other decorative items.
The white lanterns hanging over it are mainly used in funerals. This shop probably sells funeral supplies as well.
There is an obituary posted on the bulletin board, but it’s too dim for us to read.
Wait. Isn’t the sight a bit too familiar?
Didn’t I pass this place a while ago?
……
Another part of the credits.
……and a lump appears on the wall.
Blood oozes from the wall.
And we are back to the start yet again when we reached the end of this street.
Another part of credits. Something is stuck on the wall along with blood……and when did the lantern became red?
Blood oozes from the wall, there are two bank notes stuck on it.
That’s the money I used for buying the battery just now…
What’s going on…?
The fourth loop.
…And a door appeared on the brick wall this time.
A rusty door appeared on the wall.
And the title of this chapter reveals as we step in.
