At the Door

Wang Bin had called Yang Jian during the day.

But Yang Jian's opening price of five hundred thousand had infuriated him.

A high school student, not even fully grown, actually dared to demand such an outrageous price. If his daughter Shanshan had not kept insisting on finding Yang Jian, he never would have called him.

What could a student who had only just come of age possibly know?

Even if there really were ghosts, did he know how to catch them?

Because of his daughter, Wang Bin had been deeply troubled these past two days. He had taken a few days off work and stayed home with her.

"Her condition is getting worse and worse. The doctor said Shanshan's body is perfectly normal, that she isn't sick. Her nerves are just a little weak, and she was badly frightened. Do you think we should take her to psychiatry tomorrow?" Wang Shanshan's mother, Wang Haiyan, asked with a worried expression.

"We can only do that. That Yang Jian went too far, demanding five hundred thousand as soon as he opened his mouth. How did our daughter come to know someone so shameless? Don't let Shanshan contact him so much in the future," Wang Bin said.

"The first time I saw that young man named Yang Jian, I thought he was no good. He even wanted two hundred yuan, without a shred of dignity or backbone." Wang Haiyan looked equally disdainful.

However, as the two of them sat in the living room talking,

suddenly,

Wang Shanshan's bedroom door slammed shut with a bang. Out of the corner of his eye, Wang Bin seemed to see something run into the room.

Wang Bin's expression changed at once, and he hurriedly stood up.

Wang Haiyan said in shock, "Honey, did you see that just now? It looked like a child ran into Shanshan's room."

"Don't talk nonsense and scare yourself." Wang Bin's expression was far from normal.

Because he too seemed to have seen a child run into Wang Shanshan's room.

That child had not been wearing clothes, and his skin was bluish-black, like the color of a dead infant.

Yet the front door had remained closed the entire time, and they lived on the sixteenth floor. There was no way a child could have run inside.

"Ah!"

The next moment, Wang Shanshan's scream came from the room.

Wang Bin hurried over and opened the door.

The room was pitch-black.

At some point, the lights had gone out.

His daughter Shanshan had never turned off the lights while sleeping these past few days.

Wang Bin hurriedly reached for the switch to turn the lights on, but his hand touched a little hand instead. Its skin was soft, like a child's, but it was ice-cold, without the slightest trace of warmth, like a corpse.

"What was that?" His heart skipped a beat, and he violently pulled his hand back.

At that moment, Wang Shanshan, terrified, shoved past Wang Bin and ran out of the room, her face pale and her whole body trembling.

"Daughter, are you all right? What happened?" Wang Haiyan hugged Wang Shanshan and asked anxiously.

Wang Shanshan had been scared senseless and shivered in her mother's arms.

Wang Bin gathered his courage and turned on the light again. This time, he did not touch that icy little hand.

Under the light, the room was completely empty.

There was no child anywhere.

But the next moment, his pupils contracted.

Dirty little footprints had appeared across the floor. They were scattered chaotically around the bed, even on the walls and ceiling.

At that moment, the last of Wang Bin's resolve completely collapsed.

His hand trembled as he hurriedly picked up his phone and dialed Yang Jian's number.

Yang Jian had been right.

His home might really be haunted.

"Haiyan, take our daughter and leave first. We'll stay at a hotel for a few days. It isn't safe here," Wang Bin said as he made the call.

"Okay, okay, I'll pack some things right away," Wang Haiyan said. She too felt that there really seemed to be something in the house.

The call connected.

"Hello, is this Yang Jian?" Wang Bin asked.

Yang Jian, who was resting in the security room, answered the call. "Uncle Wang, is something wrong?"

"Where are you now? Can you come over right away? I want to talk to you about what happened before. We can negotiate the price," Wang Bin said urgently.

"I'm working right now, and I still have to work later. If it isn't urgent, I think we can talk over the phone," Yang Jian said.

"I'm heading out now. Where are you working? I'll come find you," Wang Bin said.

He already felt that things at home were very wrong. He needed to speak with Yang Jian in person.

A showdown between man and man.

"Furen Mall," Yang Jian said.

"Okay, we'll head over right away." After Wang Bin said that, he put on his shoes and prepared to open the door, only to find that he could not push it open no matter how he turned the handle.

He put more force into it, but the door did not budge.

"Honey, what's wrong? Aren't we leaving?" Wang Haiyan asked.

"The door handle seems broken. It won't open," Wang Bin said.

"Could something be stuck in it?" Wang Haiyan asked.

"I'll take a look." Wang Bin peered through the peephole.

A child stood outside the door—a naked child with bluish-black skin. He was pressing a hand against the door. The child's eyes had no pupils and were completely black. He raised his head toward the peephole, and those black eyes held both innocence and a strange, sinister malice.

Wang Bin's face instantly turned deathly pale, and he staggered backward in terror.

"Hello? Uncle Wang, say something. If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up," Yang Jian said from the other end.

"No, don't, don't hang up."

Wang Bin clutched the phone like a lifeline. "Th-that child is standing outside my front door. I can't get out. Can you come save us? We can discuss the money."

Yang Jian froze for a moment, then his expression turned exceptionally grave.

The Ghost Infant was outside Wang Shanshan's home?

"I'll get there as soon as I can. Be careful over there, and stay as far away from that thing as possible." Yang Jian hung up and immediately set off.

"Hey, Yang Jian, where are you going?"

"I have an urgent matter to take care of. I'll be back soon," Yang Jian said.

Just as he set off,

Wang Bin, who had hung up the phone, saw in horror that the front door handle was slowly turning.

It seemed that the thing outside was about to open the door and come in.

In his panic, Wang Bin suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Ignoring his fear, he rushed over and bolted the door shut, then locked it tight. He fastened every latch and security lock without missing a single one.

"It's coming. It's coming in. Yang Jian, where is Yang Jian? I want Yang Jian!" Wang Shanshan cried out in utter terror, on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Wang Bin stepped back, still shaken. He looked at the now-silent door, but instead of feeling relieved, he grew even more nervous.

"Honey, what's happening outside?" Wang Haiyan still did not fully understand the situation.

"Don't ask. Come on, back to the bedroom." Wang Bin felt that they could no longer leave through the front door, so he led his wife and daughter back to the master bedroom.

He turned on every light he could, then shut the bedroom door.

He stared fixedly at the door for a long while. Seeing no sign of movement outside, he felt slightly relieved.

However, the next moment,

Wang Bin suddenly heard the sound of the front door opening from outside in the living room.

Impossible. Panic completely consumed him.

He had fastened so many locks that even a key could not open the door. How could it have opened so easily?

That child he had seen through the peephole earlier might really have been... a ghost.

What should he do? What could he possibly do?

Wang Bin desperately thought of a way out.

He looked at the window.

They were on the sixteenth floor. There was no way they could escape through the window, and climbing over to the neighboring apartment was just as dangerous. One careless slip, and they would fall to their deaths.

Could they only sit here and wait to die?