"Mommy!"
A delighted cry suddenly came from the battered iron door.
Jian Ran turned to look and saw Diana in a white lace dress. Her tiny face was alight with excitement as she hurried inside.
"Wonderful, Daddy's here too."
"What are you... doing?" Diana tilted her head, looking innocent and adorable. "Are you playing a game?"
"I should have thought of this place ages ago!"
"But I searched for so long and couldn't find it."
The woman shook like a leaf in Jian Ran's grip. The look she gave her own flesh and blood was complicated, as though another emotion mingled with her fear.
"Y-you stay back!" The man's voice trembled, and his hands went limp, dropping the chainsaw.
Diana looked at the man in confusion. "What's wrong, Daddy? Don't you like Diana anymore? Where's the present you promised me?"
"Why haven't I gotten it yet?"
Her questioning expression grew increasingly vicious, tears streaming down her cheeks. Like a murderous doll from a foreign horror movie, she held a dagger that had appeared in her hand at some point.
"Since Mommy and Daddy are being so disobedient, I'll turn you into specimens, so you'll stay nice and quiet in..."
"Ghosts can't be made into specimens anymore."
Jian Ran cut Diana off mercilessly and threw her mother down in front of her. Glancing at the still-unconscious Lu Yanting out of the corner of his eye, he thought, I can't waste any more time. I have to get him to a hospital!
"Only by eliminating the Demon can you keep those two here." As Jian Ran spoke, he turned back, fixing Diana with a stern gaze. "Do you want to..."
"Yes!" Diana seemed to have understood something long ago, and certainty showed on her tiny, childish face.
"Even if you might disappear