A Family

This is a warehouse belonging to a small logistics company in Dachang City.

However, it was recently bought by Zhao Kaiming and turned into a private property.

And he lives here.

Today, Zhao Kaiming returned here on time, just like always.

After circling around to make sure no one was there, he finally felt relieved and used the key to open the warehouse door.

The warehouse, free of clutter, was spacious and quiet.

Zhao Kaiming turned on the lights, closed the warehouse door, and walked straight inside.

His clear footsteps echoed in the empty warehouse. He limped along, leaning on his cane, his face somewhat gloomy.

"I'm back," Zhao Kaiming said, as if announcing his arrival to his family.

"I ate out today, so I won't be eating at home. You haven't eaten yet, have you? I'll go make you some food right now."

He was talking to himself, and no one in the empty warehouse responded, yet it all seemed so natural.

Zhao Kaiming arrived at a corner of the warehouse, where many boxes were piled up.

Inside, there were various fresh fruits, apples, cherries, cantaloupes, and some frozen steaks and fish. Judging from the packaging, the fruits were all imported, and the steaks and fish were also top-quality ingredients, making them look quite expensive.

These items piled up in hundreds of boxes.

"How about pan-fried steak today? Oh, and we can't forget the fruit, these cherries are your favorite, daughter." Zhao Kaiming said with a smile as he began to cook with his skillful culinary skills in the simple kitchen.

He was very happy when he cooked, seemingly immersed in it, oblivious to everything else around him.

It took more than an hour.

He prepared a full twelve lunches.

The warehouse was filled with an enticing aroma of food; the sight of the perfectly seared, tender steak on the plate made one's mouth water.

However, after preparing the last serving of fruit, Zhao Kaiming's face instantly darkened.

He remained silent with a stern face, then walked to another cardboard box and took out paper money, incense, and other items.

Holding a trolley, he slowly pushed these items into a separate room inside the warehouse.

A buzzing sound came from the room; it was the sound of an electric motor running.

Inside, twelve exquisite and luxurious ice coffins were neatly arranged.

The ice coffin contained elderly people, middle-aged men, young women, and even children under ten years old.

Each person placed in the ice coffin was dressed up cleanly and beautifully by professional beauticians, with neat and appropriate clothes and exquisite and unique makeup.

But no matter how carefully they dressed them up, they couldn't hide the coldness and stiffness of those corpses.

"Daughter, dinner's ready. Daddy made you some pan-fried steak and sweet cherries." Zhao Kaiming placed a lunch on the small table in front of the ice coffin, then removed the fish fillets that had gone cold and spoiled yesterday.

Inside the ice coffin was a cute little girl, not even ten years old, wearing a dress.

However, the little girl was covered with a thin layer of frost, having been placed in this ice coffin for a long time.

"Wife, I'm sorry, I didn't take good care of our daughter. But don't worry, everything will be alright. I will keep my promise to you. Our daughter will grow up healthy and strong and become a beautiful young woman. I'm almost there now. Don't worry, just wait a few more days." Zhao Kaiming came to the second ice coffin and stroked the glass on it.

Inside was a beautiful woman in her early twenties, who was lying with her hands crossed over her stomach, as if she had fallen asleep.

"You should eat first. Don't go hungry; take good care of yourself."

After putting down a lunch, Zhao Kaiming retrieved yesterday's spoiled dinner and then walked to the third ice coffin.

At that moment, he suddenly knelt down with a thud and cried like a child; "Mom, I'm sorry, I'm useless, I lied to you. Xiaoli and Guoguo didn't refuse to come back for your birthday, they just can't come back anymore. I killed them, and I killed you too. Your son had already made something of himself, why, why did everything turn out like this?"

"Mom, I don't want to either, but I can't do it, I really can't. I've thought about suicide, but even if I die, it won't end. There's no going back."

He bowed his head and wept, tears streaming down his face, overcome with grief.

After crying for a while, Zhao Kaiming finally wiped away his tears and looked up, saying, "Mom, don't worry, everything will be alright. Our family will be reunited. Mom, stay here for now. Soon I'll take you away from here. We'll go traveling, go shopping abroad, and go on vacation to the beach."

Halfway through his speech, Zhao Kaiming suddenly noticed that his dinner, which he had placed in front of the ice coffin, showed signs of being gnawed on, as if it had been stolen by rats.

Instantly, he stood up, his face contorted with rage. "Which damned rat dared to steal my mother's dinner?"

"Anyone who dares to disturb my family must die." Zhao Kaiming immediately drew his pistol, cocked it, and then turned and left the room menacingly.

Soon, gunshots rang out from the quiet warehouse.

The sound lasted for nearly ten minutes.

He carried a fat rat, beaten to a bloody pulp, to the front of the ice coffin.

"Mom, you see, this is the culprit that stole your dinner. I've killed it now, so you can rest assured. And I promise I'll never let this happen again," Zhao Kaiming said with a smile.

After talking to himself in front of the ice coffin for a while, he pushed the food cart and delivered the food to the other ice coffins.

The people lying in these ice coffins include Zhao Kaiming's wife, daughters, parents, and uncles—all of whom were very close relatives of his.

After doing all this, he went to the mourning hall set up next to him, burned paper money and offered incense to the twelve memorial tablets, and respectfully kowtowed three times.

"Give me some more time, everyone. I won't let you die in vain."

Zhao Kaiming shouted, "I'm determined to kill Yang Jian. I absolutely cannot let him ruin my plan!"

He hadn't finished speaking.

A chilling aura suddenly filled the room.

Zhao Kaiming whirled around and roared, "What are you doing here? Is this a place for a monster like you to enter? Get out!"

Behind him, there was no one, only a tightly closed door that had been opened at some point and was now half-open.

"I told you to get out, and you still dare to come in?" Zhao Kaiming suddenly stood up, picked up his gun, and fired repeatedly at the wall next to the door.

"Get out of here! Get out!"

He roared hoarsely, like a raging beast, the gun in his hand firing rapidly. After emptying one magazine, he immediately loaded a second, and only after the last magazine was emptied did he finally look ahead, panting and with red eyes.

"Don't be so smug for too long. Once you meet my conditions, you'll regret ever being born."

The walls were riddled with bullet holes.

Although the bullet holes are distributed somewhat irregularly, they vaguely form the shape of a person.

The head area, in particular, has the most dense bullet holes.

"Beep beep. Beep beep."

The satellite-guided phone rang at that moment.

"Zhao Kaiming, you hung up on me again without my permission. I've told you so many times before that this is a critical moment and you need to maintain 24-hour communication. What you're doing is putting me in a difficult position. Do you know how many times I've been criticized because of this?" The voice of the operator came through the phone; it was a woman.

"You bitch, do you want to die talking to me like that? Don't think you're safe just because you're in the switchboard room. Believe me, I'll kill you right here at this workbench!" Zhao Kaiming roared.

The operator seemed startled, her voice trembling slightly. "I... I wanted to inform you of an emergency. A sudden paranormal event has occurred at a hospital in Dachang City. Ghost Eye Yang Jian and Professor Wang have been caught up in it. You need to rush there immediately to provide support. Sun Yi is already on his way."

"I understand, I'll get started right away."

Zhao Kaiming regained some composure. "Also, this is the last time I'm warning you. If you ever act disrespectfully again, I'll kill your entire family, including you. Even if you kneel before me then, it won't do you any good. You know I have that kind of power."

"Yes, I understand," the operator's voice trembled.

"You don't need to understand, just remember," Zhao Kaiming said.

He then immediately set off for the hospital where the incident had occurred.