Handprints in the Bathroom

Even the strongest person could not keep living at home after discovering there was a ghost there.

But in order to obtain that red newspaper again, Yang Jian had no choice but to take the risk. It was an opportunity to overcome the revival of the vicious ghost within him.

"I'll wait for that thing here and see if it comes back."

After hesitating for a long while, Yang Jian finally gritted his teeth and chose not to leave. He would wait at home for that ghost to return.

Knowing there was a ghost and still daring to wait for it to come back...

That took tremendous courage.

Yang Jian had certainly summoned up tremendous courage. He had stayed behind prepared to die.

If he merely clung to life now, it would only be a slow suicide.

Once the eye in his body grew beyond his control,

as he waited at home for the ghost,

in another upscale residential complex in Dachang City,

was Wang Shanshan's home.

Ever since the day before yesterday, she had not stepped outside even once. She had hidden at home for the past two days because she had gradually realized that something was wrong with her house.

Inside the bathroom.

Water poured down with a rushing sound.

Yet Wang Shanshan's eyes were filled with terror and a trace of madness. Holding a toilet brush, she frantically scrubbed a spot beside her neck in the mirror.

The girl's skin had turned bright red from her excessive scrubbing.

Ordinarily, no one could endure that kind of pain.

But Wang Shanshan seemed not to feel it at all. Instead, she scrubbed even harder, and the terror in her eyes grew more intense.

Soon, the skin beside her neck split open, and scarlet blood seeped out.

The blood flowed down with the bathroom's warm water, staining the floor red.

Yet no matter how hard she scrubbed or how much blood flowed, two tiny bluish-black handprints remained clearly visible on the bloodstained skin. They seemed to have grown into her flesh, like birthmarks she had carried since the womb, impossible to wash away.

At that moment,

Wang Shanshan's mother, Wang Haiyan, sat on the living room sofa, watching the time on her watch with a worried expression.

"My daughter has been in the bathroom for more than two hours. She already took a shower this morning. Could she be sick? Is something hurting?"

Wang Shanshan's father, Wang Bin, also looked worried. "She's been acting strange since she came back from school yesterday morning. She barely eats and locks herself in her room all day. Even in broad daylight, she turns on every light in the house. She's terrified of the dark. Now she's spent the entire day bathing. If this continues, we should take her to see a doctor tomorrow."

"Honey, did you find out what happened at the school the night before last? I haven't been able to get through to her teacher," Wang Haiyan said.

"I went to the school yesterday. Something really did happen there. It's been sealed off, and all the students have been forced to take leave. As for when classes will resume, we have to wait for the school's notice. I ran into quite a few parents when I went there." Wang Bin smoked as he deeply furrowed his brow, his expression grave.

"The other parents said their children never came home after evening self-study the night before last. They've gone missing. Their phones can't be reached, and no one can find them. There are quite a few missing students."

Wang Haiyan said in shock, "How could this happen?"

"Something must have happened at the school. We just don't know what yet. I wanted to ask Shanshan, but seeing her like this, I couldn't bring myself to ask. I was afraid of putting more pressure on her."

Wang Bin stubbed out his cigarette and said seriously, "Shanshan must have experienced something. The way she is now, it looks like she's been frightened."

Wang Haiyan guessed, "Honey, do you think Shanshan ran into some bad person and was bullied?"

"Absolutely not. This is a large-scale student disappearance. The school is covering something up. Right, wasn't Shanshan brought home by one of her classmates yesterday morning?" Wang Bin said.

"Yes, I met that classmate. His name is Yang Jian," Wang Haiyan said.

"He must know what happened to Shanshan. We should call and ask that classmate of hers," Wang Bin said.

"I thought of that, but I don't know his number," Wang Haiyan said.

Just then.

"Ah—!"

Wang Shanshan's hysterical scream came from the bathroom.

Wang Bin and his wife's expressions changed at once. They rushed to the bathroom door, but it was locked and would not open.

"Daughter, open the door! What happened? Mom is right outside!" Wang Haiyan cried anxiously, pounding on the bathroom door.

But Wang Shanshan's screams continued from inside.

Wang Bin realized the situation might be serious. His face changed, and he stopped knocking. He threw himself against the bathroom door.

Bang!

With a loud crash, the door was forced open.

As her mother, Wang Haiyan rushed in first.

She saw that the bathroom floor was covered in blood, and her face went pale with fright. Then she saw her daughter curled up in a corner of the bathroom, blood continuously flowing from her neck. Wang Shanshan had buried her head in terror, as though she had been terribly frightened by something.

"Daughter, what's wrong?"

Wang Haiyan was so heartbroken that she was nearly crying.

"That thing is here. It's here. It's outside the window. It's outside the window. It came for me." Wang Shanshan said in utter terror, "Don't... don't come closer. Don't come closer."

"What thing? There's nothing outside the window. Shanshan, don't scare yourself," Wang Haiyan said, glancing at the bathroom window. She found nothing.

"No, it's outside the window. It's watching me."

Wang Shanshan grabbed her mother's arm in panic. "Yang Jian, I want Yang Jian. I want to go to Yang Jian's house. I don't want to stay here anymore. Mom, I don't want to die. I don't want to die. Everyone is dead. They're all dead. Su Lei, Zhao Yan, Liu Jiayi. They're all dead."

"Wuwu... I don't want to die."

As she spoke, Wang Shanshan buried herself in Wang Haiyan's arms and began to sob bitterly.

"Shanshan, it's okay. It's okay now. You'll be fine, you'll be fine. Mom is here," Wang Haiyan comforted her through tears.

"That thing found me. It's outside the window, outside the window. I'm about to die. Wuwu..." Wang Shanshan said.

Wang Haiyan looked at the window again. "There really is nothing outside. We live on the sixteenth floor. There's nothing out there. Look if you don't believe me."

"Mom, it really came. I want to live at Yang Jian's house. I don't want to die," Wang Shanshan kept repeating through tears, her entire body trembling.

After a moment of silence, Wang Bin said, "Take Shanshan back to her room and get her dressed first. We'll go downstairs to the clinic later and have the wound bandaged. Tomorrow, I'll find a way to ask Yang Jian what happened."

Wang Haiyan nodded and helped Wang Shanshan leave the bathroom.

After the mother and daughter left, Wang Bin turned off the hot water in the bathroom and rinsed away the blood on the floor.

As he prepared to leave, he suddenly glanced at the bathroom window.

The window was closed.

After opening it, Wang Bin stuck his head outside and looked to see whether there really was something there.

They lived on the sixteenth floor. How could there possibly be something outside?

Sure enough.

Wang Bin saw nothing.

However, just as he was about to close the window, he suddenly froze.

The window was covered in a layer of condensation, and a clear handprint was pressed onto it.

The handprint looked very small. It was not an adult's handprint, but like that of a four- or five-year-old child.

Moreover, the handprints extended all the way from outside the window into the bathroom.

They covered the bathroom walls, which were coated in condensation.

There were even handprints on the ceiling, somewhere Shanshan could never reach.

The tiny handprints were densely packed, clearly visible.

Wang Bin's heart trembled as he sensed that something was very wrong.

That night, Wang Shanshan's family did not sleep at all.

Zhang Wei did not sleep either.

He had just returned home from outside.

His father, Zhang Xiangui, thought he had done something bad. As soon as he came home, Zhang Xiangui beat him and forbade him from returning to his room to sleep.

Zhang Wei stood on the balcony, staring outside as he frowned and thought through the entire night.

Who exactly had set him up?