Married to a Fox Queen in a Haunted Storybook - Chapter 1

Qi Yan felt she was having an extraordinarily unlucky day.

Heaven knew why a 22-year-old college student like her, still in the prime of her youth and yet to graduate, would end up in such a bizarre situation.

All she had done was take advantage of the May Day holiday to make a quick trip back to her rural hometown to handle the demolition of the old family house. Then, after going to sleep that night, she inexplicably woke up on this chaotic, rickety bus that made no sense whatsoever.

Qi Yan was an only child. Since her parents retired, they had been traveling all over the country, rarely spending more than a few days at home. Her uncle’s family had emigrated abroad long ago and seldom returned. The old family house had been vacant ever since her great-grandfather passed away. Her grandparents used to come back occasionally for short stays and to clean up, but after they, too, passed away, the house was completely abandoned.

Now that the local authorities had notified them about the demolition, her parents, unable to return in time, had asked Qi Yan to handle it.

So, during the May Day holiday, she went back to her hometown. After discussing and confirming the demolition details with the relevant office, she thoroughly inspected the three-story house to see if anything had been left behind.

To her surprise, while searching, she found a strange book in the attic. Its cover was entirely black, clearly aged, with four characters neatly written in small seal script: Tales of the Supernatural.

At first glance, it was just an unremarkable old book. But what really piqued Qi Yan’s curiosity was the fact that her great-grandfather had wrapped it in long, narrow strips of yellow paper. These strips were also worn and old, their inscriptions faded to the point of illegibility, some even hanging loosely.

Besides the book, the storage box also contained a small, locked metal case. The case was covered in dust, clearly untouched for years. Though the case itself was shabby, the lock securing it was surprisingly sturdy.

A tattered book and a rusty metal case—these were the last two items her great-grandfather had left behind in this world. Qi Yan took both of them home.

Looking back, she couldn’t quite explain why she had done it. Normally, no one would bother with such old, seemingly worthless things. But at the time, she had taken them without a second thought.

Not only that, but that very night, out of curiosity, she had opened Tales of the Supernatural. Perhaps it was the yellow paper wrapping that made her even more eager to see what was inside. She tore off the already fragile strips and flipped open the book.

To her utter bewilderment, the pages were completely blank—not a single word was written inside!

Qi Yan scoffed in exasperation and tossed the book onto her bedside table, mentally cursing her great-grandfather for such a pointless joke.

All that buildup, all that mystery, only for the book to be empty. What a waste of time.

Shrugging it off, she lay down and fell asleep. But when she opened her eyes again, she was sitting on this swaying bus.

What woke her was a woman at the front door shouting through a megaphone: “All passengers, please fasten your seatbelts! We’re approaching a sharp curve on the mountain road. Stay seated, hold onto the handrails, and do not stand up or move around!”

At first, Qi Yan thought she was dreaming—and who wouldn’t? Falling asleep only to suddenly find yourself on a bus would make anyone assume it was just a dream.

But everything around her felt too real, too vivid. She even pinched her thigh hard to check.

It hurt. A lot. So much that she grimaced in pain.

She really hadn’t held back—that pinch was ruthless.

Afterward, she had to rub the sore spot, tears nearly springing to her eyes from the sting.

Beep—Introduction complete—

Welcome to the world of Supernatural Tales! In the time ahead, you will immerse yourself in the thrilling stories from this anthology!

Meeting is fate. Since you’ve opened Supernatural Tales, it proves you are bound to it by destiny.

Over the next seven days, you will experience the stories firsthand and complete tasks assigned by the NPC guiding you. A special reminder: Be extremely cautious during your journey—do not die, okay~?

Friendly tip: There are two ways to successfully leave this world: 1. Find the “Eye” of the world and pass through it to escape. 2. Locate the “Heart” of the world and defeat it to clear the stage. You only have seven days. Players who fail to leave within that time will face the collapse of this world~

The moment she woke up, these voices flooded Qi Yan’s mind, bombarding her with absurd information that threatened to shatter her thoughts.

Rubbing her throbbing temples, she glanced around. Aside from her, there were five others on the bus—three men and two women, making six in total. On closer inspection, the vehicle wasn’t a city bus but more like a minibus, the kind that could seat twenty or thirty people.

Panicked exclamations filled the cabin. The other five were just as terrified, having initially assumed they were dreaming before realizing the reality was far too tangible—especially with that eerie voice in their heads.

“Where the hell are we?!”

“What ‘Supernatural Tales world’? What stories are we supposed to experience?!”

“Is this some kind of film set? How did I get here? Kidnapping people is illegal! This is human trafficking!”

“Stop the bus! Stop it right now!” A tall, muscular young man stood up from his seat, ignoring the woman in the front row as he staggered forward, gripping the seats for balance. “Are you deaf? I said STOP THE DAMN BUS!”

The man was bald, wearing a baggy sleeveless T-shirt, his bare arms covered in cryptic tattoos. Qi Yan looked down at herself—her pajamas were gone, replaced by the sportswear she usually wore outside.

The bald man reached the driver’s seat and glanced at the woman standing nearby, who smiled at him with eerie stiffness. Her lips curled into a chilling grin as she spoke again, her tone oddly gleeful despite her words:

“Please return to your seat, sir. The road ahead is winding and very dangerous.”

Qi Yan could tell—this woman didn’t want the bald man to comply at all. It was as if the more he acted out, the more excited she became. Her tone wasn’t persuasive in the slightest; it was clearly meant to provoke, pushing the situation further out of control.

Sure enough, the bald man grew even angrier. He shoved the woman standing in the aisle aside and strode over to the driver in two or three steps, grabbing the driver’s arm.

“Stop the car! Stop the damn car right now!”

The driver was a scrawny, elderly man who seemed to have no strength—or even weight—to speak of. With one yank from the burly bald man, his entire body lurched sideways like a marionette on strings.

As the minibus veered toward the cliff ahead, now without the driver’s control, the other passengers panicked instantly.

“Y-you—let go! What the hell are you doing?!”

“Let go now! We’re going to fall!”

“Ahhh—I don’t want to die!”

The cabin erupted into chaos. Despite there being only eight people in the vehicle, including the driver and the woman in the front, the noise made it sound like dozens were arguing.

Qi Yan clung tightly to the seat in front of her, watching the scene unfold with bated breath.

Through the minibus’s front windshield, she saw clearly that the driverless vehicle had somehow navigated the sharp mountain curve on its own, skimming the edge of the cliff before continuing forward.

The sight left everyone stunned. The panic over nearly plunging off the cliff transformed into a deeper, more unsettling fear toward the eerie bus.

“Wh-what the hell is going on…?” The bald man was the first to react. Still gripping the frail driver, he stared in disbelief as the steering wheel moved on its own.

“You… where… where the hell is this?!”

He abruptly released the driver, staggering back several steps before collapsing onto the aisle, his legs weak with terror.

The frail driver hadn’t uttered a single word the entire time. Freed from the bald man’s grip, he took hold of the steering wheel again, appearing wholly focused on driving.

But everyone had realized one thing: this bus didn’t need a driver. Whether he drove or not made no difference—the vehicle moved on its own.

The woman who had been silently watching the spectacle all along curled her lips into a sinister, mocking smile. Slowly, she picked up the megaphone beside her and brought it to her lips, her narrowed eyes fixed on the bald man sprawled on the floor. “Sir, I did warn you to hold on tight and stay seated. Why wouldn’t you listen?”

“Attention, passengers. Our next stop is the destination of this journey—Baishui Town. Let me reintroduce myself. I’m your guide, Sister Hong. We’ll be staying here for seven days as we explore the… secrets of the Zhongshan Mountain Range.”

She deliberately lingered on the word “secrets,” relishing the expressions on everyone’s faces.

“N-no… What kind of place is this?! Let me go! Let me off! I want out!” A high school girl still in her uniform curled into a ball in her seat, sobbing uncontrollably. “Jokes have limits… I was just sleeping at home… I was still asleep… How did this happen?! Where the hell is this?!”

The tour guide, Sister Hong, looked at her with a smile, as if staring at a raving lunatic: “Didn’t I already say? This is Baishui Town in the Zhongshan Mountain Range~”

“Bullshit! We’ve never heard of any Baishui Town! And we sure as hell don’t know anything about Zhongshan! Let us go!!”

“Hehe… hahahaha!” Sister Hong’s laughter grew even more eerie as she raised a hand and vaguely pointed at her head. “You can’t leave! You all heard the introduction given by the script, didn’t you? It already told you the answer, yet you keep asking—what a bunch of useless fools…”

Everyone’s faces turned deathly pale. Of course, they had heard the introduction, but none of them wanted to believe it. A world from a supernatural script? It was too absurd! How could any sane person believe something like that!

Qi Yan clenched the armrest of the front seat with both hands, his knuckles turning white from the force.

This was just his damn luck…