Skip to the story
← Back
The Borrowed Mask

The Borrowed Mask

  • English
  • Added

The Borrowed Mask is a novel in English; you can read chapters 1–4 free here on EditWrx Reads.

▶ Start chapter 1Continue in the app

Your code

591029

Keeps your place in the official app

  1. 1Install the official app — it’s free on iPhone and Android.
  2. 2Open it and enter 591029 when asked for a code. The Borrowed Mask opens right where this site leaves off.
App StoreGoogle Play

Story

The story

On New Year's Eve, a young woman boards a slow train home, where a strange girl keeps asking to borrow small things: tissues, a pad, then a mask. Each request echoes a forum post that appears on the young woman's phone, written by someone calling herself Xiang Xiang, who needs 200,000 for her brother's wedding and has been told to scam a well-dressed passerby.

When the young woman refuses, the girl returns with crumpled bills and tears, and the passengers around them turn on her, urged by a commenter named Little Sprout. The young woman stomps on her own masks rather than hand one over, but the post keeps updating, and its helper seems to know her far too well.

Trapped on a moving train with a crowd that believes the girl, she must decide how far she will go to keep what is hers.

Opening excerpt

On New Year's Eve, a strange girl kept asking to borrow things from me.

"Hey girl, do you have any tissues?"

"Hey girl, I think I got my period. Do you have a pad I can borrow?"

The third time, a forum post popped up on my phone.

[Fam, my chosen target isn't cooperating at all. What should I do?]

I scrolled up. The OP said she was an ordinary person who could only afford the slow train.

Her mom demanded she cough up 200,000 for her brother's wedding.

These are the opening lines of chapter 1. Keep reading →

Chapters

▶ free here · 🔒 continues in the official app

All chapters
  1. Chapter 1~680 words
  2. Chapter 2~910 words
  3. Chapter 3~620 words
  4. Chapter 4~550 words
  5. Chapter 5In the app
  6. Chapter 6In the app
  7. Chapter 7In the app
  8. Chapter 8In the app
  9. Chapter 9In the app
  10. Chapter 10In the app
  11. Chapter 11In the app
  12. Chapter 12In the app
  13. Chapter 13In the app
  14. Chapter 14In the app
  15. Chapter 15In the app
  16. Chapter 16In the app
  17. More chapters in the official app →

More like this

See all

Questions

Can I read The Borrowed Mask for free?

Yes — the first 4 chapters of The Borrowed Mask are free to read right here on EditWrx Reads, no sign-up needed. The rest of the story continues in the official app.

How many chapters are free here?

Chapters 1–4. Your place is saved on this device as you go, so you can stop and pick it up later tonight.

What happens after chapter 4?

Chapter 5 onward lives in the official app. Install it, enter the code 591029, and the story opens where this site leaves off.

What's The Borrowed Mask about?

On New Year's Eve, a young woman boards a slow train home, where a strange girl keeps asking to borrow small things: tissues, a pad, then a mask. Each request echoes a forum post that appears on the young woman's phone, written by someone calling herself Xiang Xiang, who needs 200,000 for her brother's wedding and has been told to scam a well-dressed passerby.

EditWrx Reads carries only the sample chapters and story details the publisher has cleared for preview. To read the whole book, use the official app.