Just past midnight, in Qingjiang Town.
A mother and son huddled beneath their bed. The woman covered her child's mouth, keeping him from making a sound.
Step!
Step!
Step!
Heavy footsteps entered the room. In the moonlight, the woman recognized those familiar feet.
Despair filled her eyes, mingled with pain.
Not long before, she and her husband had heard a noise coming from elsewhere in the house.
For their safety, her husband had gone out alone.
The woman knew why he had done it.
If it was a burglar, her husband, armed with a club, would not necessarily come off worse.
If it was not a burglar, perhaps his going outside could buy the two of them a chance to survive.
But some things were not as simple as they imagined.
Now, watching her husband's heavy footsteps move back and forth through the room, the woman's heart rose into her throat.
Her hand tightened over her child's mouth.
Step!
Those feet stopped, right in front of the woman, before the bed.
Just as her heartbeat grew increasingly frantic, a violent bang sounded overhead.
Both the woman and her child shuddered.
Sensing that her child was about to burst into tears, she looked down into his terrified, tear-filled eyes. She hurriedly covered his eyes with her other hand and whispered into his ear, "Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. It's all right. It's all right."
Though her own voice was trembling, she still tried to give her child courage.
Once his trembling eased, the woman looked out from beneath the bed again.
The feet had disappeared without her noticing. A chill gripped her heart, and she turned her stiff neck to look beside her. Nothing was there!
The woman slowly exhaled, then lowered her head to look at the child in