The Strange

Zhu Yuan was an utterly ordinary office worker, mild-mannered and never one to argue with others—he made no enemies and held no grudges. But shortly after his lover’s death, he began to realize he was being followed. An omnipresent gaze, the doormat disturbed, the door inexplicably left ajar… and then, inexplicable marks began appearing on his body—small red traces on his earlobes, the nape of his neck… even in more intimate places. Soon after, his phone would ring every night at exactly midnight. From then on, Zhu Yuan sensed that there seemed to be an extra presence in his home—a second person’s breathing echoing in the room out of nowhere, a sticky, suffocating gaze always clinging ti...