Chapter 14 (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Sherry, the President of the University of Iowa, announced the official start of the contest.

Soon, more than a dozen buses carrying all the participants drove to the competition venue.

It was already afternoon when they set off.

By the time they arrived, it was almost evening, and there was a slight rain.

It was fall, so the wind was chilly.

Compared to the downtown area where the University of Iowa was located, the place where they got off the bus was very quiet, or rather, it was a little eerie.

The contestants looked around warily.

They wanted to know what kind of place they were in.

Suddenly, a girl screamed, “There…there’s a ghost!”

All the contestants looked in the direction of the voice.

Everyone looked in the direction the girl pointed at, which was an arched tombstone with the face of the deceased carved on it.

An old man with a hunched back silently appeared behind the tombstone.

His face was wrinkled by the passage of time. What was even weirder was that it was almost the same face as the carving on the tombstone.

“Ahhhhh!”

Someone else screamed and there was a commotion among the participants who got off the bus.

“F*ck! Are we in the plot of a horror movie?”

“Can someone explain where the hell are we?!”

“Why is it so chilly? I suddenly feel so cold!”

“OMG…I wanna go home!”

Sherry put both hands up and signaled for everyone to calm down as she said. “Everyone! Calm down! This is the arena for the Fall Cup Creative Writing Workshop Competition, the Peace Cemetery. The person you saw just now is the groundskeeper here and not a ghost, so please don’t panic!”

“Why did you arrange a competition venue right next to the cemetery? It’s so creepy!”

“This is terrible! I don’t feel like writing anymore.”

“It’s a really strange venue…”

Sherry said, “The competition is held in a different place every year. The year before last, it was at the seaside, and last year’s competition was in the forest.”

“We chose the cemetery for this year’s Fall Cup because the theme this year would be based on the cemetery. We believe that a qualified writer should be able to write in any environment and maintain his writing state, which is a compulsory course for our profession.”

Since Sherry said so, there were no more objections from the audience.

When the crowd’s voices gradually died down, Sherry continued, “The organizer has booked a five-star hotel near the cemetery. All participants must write in isolation here. Meals and accommodations will be carried out in the hotel. Your submission must not be signed by your real names or past pseudonyms, nor should your real identity be revealed in your content. If discovered, you will be disqualified immediately. The competition will be held for 14 natural days starting today. These rules are the same as previous Fall Cups, however, it’s worth a reminder that there’s an additional rule this year. Each author will be accompanied by at least one mentor, who will provide guidance and confirm your identity beforehand. The author and the mentor could pair up on their own.”