In the silent night of the darkened moon, the old city district lay still.
Rows of three-story old Western-style houses stood side by side, some retaining their original appearance, while others adorned with modern facades. The streets exuded a blend of the old and the new eras. Yet amidst these rows of old houses, one stood out. A profound silence enveloped it, devoid even of the chirping of night insects, as if an invisible barrier separated it from the outside world.
Before long, the sound of tires rolling over the cement road shattered this barrier.
Chow Yun-Fat stepped out of the black sedan, rubbing his neck, feeling an inexplicable soreness. He asked his assistant, Xiao Jin, who walked ahead, “Did you feel it’s unusually cold tonight?”
“Cold?” Xiao Jin fanned his collar, although the temperature in the deep night was only around twenty degrees, the midsummer night still carried a hint of sultriness.
“Not at all?” Chow Yun-Fat rubbed his left arm with his right palm. “I feel a chilling breeze.”
Xiao Jin felt nothing. He was the first to push open the iron gate and enter the courtyard of the Gu family mansion.
At this moment, two burly men guarded the courtyard. At their feet was a red wooden box knee-high, locked with a lid affixed with a yellow talisman.
“Chow Yun-Fat has entered the courtyard,” Xu Zhiruo, stationed at the Shang family villa, observed the monitor. “Shall we proceed with the arrest, since we’ve caught them red-handed?”
The red wooden box should contain the ashes of the female ghost. Although DNA identification couldn’t be performed on the ashes, there should be a photo of the female ghost next to the urn. By stringing together the evidence, they could still convict Chow Yun-Fat.
“Let’s not rush. Wait a bit longer,” Summer Joy said, trying to spot the female ghost’s figure on the screen, but after looking for a long time, he couldn’t find anything unusual.
“What else are we waiting for?” Xu Zhiruo curiously looked at Summer Joy, who had spoken cryptically. “Are we supposed to watch a show?”
“Just hold on, and you’ll see,” Summer Joy said.
Half an hour passed quickly. The police officers stationed inside the Shang family villa yawned one after another, obviously wanting to finish the job quickly. However, at this moment, the screen suddenly started to act up.
“What are they doing?” Xu Zhiruo looked at the monitor strangely. “Is the box that heavy?”
Two burly men stood on either side of the wooden box, each holding a metal ring on the box’s sides. However, no matter how hard they tried, the wooden box didn’t budge.
“Why are you dragging your feet? Hungry?” Chow Yun-Fat impatiently urged.
“No, boss, there’s something wrong with this box,” the two burly men looked at each other, “It wasn’t this heavy when we brought it here.”
“How heavy can a wooden box be?” Chow Yun-Fat, tall and robust himself, pushed one of the burly men aside and tried to lift the metal ring of the wooden box, but as the burly men had said, the box felt as heavy as lead.
Chow Yun-Fat felt that something was amiss. He quickly looked at Xiao Jin, who was waiting by the pit, and nervously asked, “Xiao Jin, come take a look. What’s going on?”
Xiao Jin also came over and tried, reciting a spell, but the wooden box remained unmoved.
“No matter what, we can’t miss the time for burial,” Xiao Jin frowned and said to the other three, “Let’s lift it together.”
This time, the four of them stood on either side of the wooden box, each holding a metal ring, trying to lift it up. From the surveillance screen, it was evident that all four of them were exerting themselves, but they couldn’t lift it.
“This wooden box is really eerie,” Xu Zhiruo felt his back go cold as he looked at Summer Joy, asking on behalf of all his colleagues, “Are you… are you joking?”
“Just wait and see,” Summer Joy said with a nonchalant tone, “Right now, the elder sister ghost is sitting on top of the box.”
The police officers watching the screen mechanically turned their heads, their expressions stiff as they looked at Summer Joy, while Xu Zhiruo said nervously, “You… you’re not joking, are you?”
Summer Joy and Shang Tingzhi exchanged a tacit glance and remained silent. Meanwhile, the four figures on the screen suddenly fell to the ground, as the metal rings couldn’t withstand the pulling force and were pulled off the wooden box by the four of them.
The two burly men exclaimed, “There’s a ghost!” and ran wildly, finally fleeing from the Gu family mansion. Chow Yun-Fat shouted after them in frustration, “Get back here!”
“Boss, the situation isn’t good today. How about coming back another day?” Xiao Jin wiped the sweat from his forehead and suggested to Chow Yun-Fat.
“No way!” Chow Yun-Fat, having been in the business world for so many years and having faced all sorts of challenges, was furious. He said fiercely, “I don’t want to live in fear every day. It’s just a step away. I don’t believe a simple wooden box can do anything to me!”
Since they couldn’t lift the wooden box, they might as well directly take out the urn inside.
Chow Yun-Fat instinctively reached out to tear off the talisman on the wooden box. Xiao Jin, standing beside him, was startled and quickly stopped him, but it was too late.
In the instant the talisman was removed, a gust of cold wind blew, and the night grew even darker, as if shrouded in a layer of black mist.
Chow Yun-Fat belatedly felt a twinge of regret, but he quickly steadied himself and raised his hands, feeling the air around him. “Xiao Jin?”
There was no response around him, and there was silence, no sound at all. This was very unusual because the two of them were standing very close, and it was impossible not to hear each other’s voices.
With the current situation, there was no way to deal with the urn. They had to leave the ominous place of the Gu family mansion first.
Chow Yun-Fat, relying on his sense of direction, walked towards the iron gate of the Gu family mansion. Before long, he found a door.
“What are they doing?” Xu Zhiruo frowned, watching the two figures wandering around the courtyard. “Can’t they see each other?”
Shang Tingzhi replied succinctly, “They’re running into a ghost wall.”
Xu Zhiruo shuddered and asked anxiously, “Is there really a ghost?”
“Look.” Summer Joy didn’t answer directly but raised his chin, indicating, “Chow Yun-Fat has entered the mansion.”
“He’s so bold?” Xu Zhiruo felt chills just by looking at the screen and couldn’t imagine how Chow Yun-Fat dared to enter the Gu family mansion. He patted his colleague’s shoulder and reminded him, “Quick, switch the monitor to inside the house.”
As Chow Yun-Fat pushed open the “iron gate,” he immediately felt something was wrong.
Outside the courtyard was clearly a road, with their car parked. However, after he stepped out, instead of a wider view, it became even darker, and the sound of his footsteps became three-dimensional, indicating that he was in a confined space.
This wasn’t outside the courtyard.
Chow Yun-Fat quickly realized this, and at the same time, the surroundings suddenly lit up, prompting him to close his eyes instinctively to adjust to the sudden brightness. When he opened them again, he saw a brightly lit, narrow space.
“Where is he?” Xu Zhiruo looked at the empty living room and asked, “Didn’t he just walk in?”
“He’s here.” Shang Tingzhi pointed to the corner on the screen, where the scene in the second-floor bathroom was displayed.
It was at least half a minute’s walk from the front door to the second-floor bathroom. As soon as Chow Yun-Fat entered the mansion, Xu Zhiruo’s colleagues immediately switched to the living room surveillance, but there was no sign of Chow Yun-Fat. It was as if he had appeared out of thin air in the second-floor bathroom.
Xu Zhiruo was horrified, trembling as he asked, “Who is he talking to?”
“He’s talking to a ghost?” Xu Zhiruo hugged himself, shivering, “Could he be hallucinating?”
“Do you want me to let the ghost sister come and see you next time?” Summer Joy said mischievously. “It’s just a hallucination, it’s okay.”
“No, no, no.” Xu Zhiruo quickly waved his hand.
The group continued to watch the screen, only to see Chow Yun-Fat holding something in his hands, trembling.
“What’s that?” Chow Yun-Fat looked at the blood-stained lump in his palm, feeling a sense of foreboding, but not daring to confirm it.
Lin Wenchu floated in front of Chow Yun-Fat, smiling eerily. “It’s our child, Ahua.”
Indeed!
He knew Lin Wenchu couldn’t possibly give him anything good!
Chow Yun-Fat screamed and threw the thing in his hand away, then turned and twisted the faucet, vigorously scrubbing his hands stained with blood.
The water from the faucet gradually turned red and black, staining Chow Yun-Fat’s wrists crimson. He frantically ran to the exit of the bathroom, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t open the door in front of him.
“How could you… treat our baby like this?” Lin Wenchu picked up the bloody thing from the ground and came to Chow Yun-Fat’s back, while Chow Yun-Fat was already terrified out of his wits. He broke the half of the bathroom door with his bare hands, ignoring the sharp glass shards, and crawled out of the bathroom.
The protruding glass cut Chow Yun-Fat’s arms and thighs, but he couldn’t feel the pain, only focusing on running forward. However, after a few steps, Lin Wenchu appeared in front of him again, so he had to change direction and continue running forward.
Once again, Lin Wenchu appeared in front of him, and again…
No matter how Zhou Runhua ran, Lin Wenchu was always ahead of him. He knew he couldn’t stop, and he firmly believed he could run away, but gradually, he felt something was wrong.
Lin Wenchu’s figure appeared faster and faster. Often, when he turned around, Lin Wenchu was behind him. However, when he turned around again, Lin Wenchu was still in front of him. This feeling…
It was as if there were more than one Lin Wenchu in the house.
Zhou Runhua’s feeling was quickly confirmed. When he was exhausted from running, three or five Lin Wenchus flew towards him from all directions. He shrank into a ball, kneeling on the floor and pleading for mercy, “I was wrong! I was wrong, Chuchu! Please spare me!”
“Spare you? What joke are you telling?”
“A heartless man like you should go to hell!”
“Look, this is your baby, waiting for you to name him!”
The Lin Wenchus surrounding Zhou Runhua tore off their gentle facade, revealing reckless and sharp smiles, pushing Zhou Runhua, who was on the verge of collapse, into desperation.
Zhou Runhua covered his ears, crazily banging his forehead against the ground, repeating, “I’m worse than a beast! I’ve let you down! It’s all my fault! Please spare me!”
After a while, the sound of knocking gradually drowned out the sound from above. Zhou Runhua slowed down his movements. When the sound from above disappeared, he timidly lifted his head.
However, the next scene completely shattered Zhou Runhua’s relief.
The heads of three Lin Wenchus were close together, their faces hanging with eerie yet serene smiles, looking down at Zhou Runhua.
Because they were so close, Zhou Runhua could hardly see anything else. His entire field of vision was filled with these three heads.
“Ah—!!” Zhou Runhua couldn’t bear it anymore and let out a loud scream. At the same time, one of the Lin Wenchus shoved a bloody piece of flesh into Zhou Runhua’s mouth, saying, “Raise your own child.”
When Xu Zhiruo and the others arrived at the Gu family mansion, they saw Zhou Runhua standing in the courtyard on the first floor, looking dazed.
His hands were wrapped around his chest, as if holding a baby, and his eyes were staring blankly at the air in his arms.
“Zhou Runhua?” Xu Zhiruo tentatively called out.
“Shh.” Zhou Runhua pressed his index finger to his lips, showing an unhappy expression, “Don’t disturb my son’s sleep.”
“Got it.” Xu Zhiruo turned to look at his colleagues, “He’s gone crazy.”
“This is too damn eerie,” a colleague shivered, “If it weren’t for seeing it on the surveillance, I wouldn’t believe such a thing existed.”
Naturally, there was no trace of Lin Wenchu on the surveillance. From start to finish, there was only Zhou Runhua running around the Gu family mansion.
“It’s better not to spread this matter. Otherwise, the report will be a mess.”
“Yeah, let’s just take him away and be done with it.”
Zhou Runhua’s assistant Xiao Jin had been wandering in the courtyard, and in the end, he was also taken back to the police station with the police. As for Lin Wenchu’s urn, it naturally stayed in the Gu family mansion because no one wanted to touch that eerie thing.
After tossing and turning for most of the night, the Gu family mansion returned to its usual calmness. Xia Leyang came to the red wooden box in the middle of the courtyard and said to Lin Wenchu sitting on the box, “Sister Ghost, are these people your friends?”
Behind Lin Wenchu, there were several female ghosts wearing white dresses, chatting lively about the experience of scaring Zhou Runhua just now, which was even more lively than a kindergarten outing.
“Let me introduce you.” Lin Wenchu turned around and said to the female ghosts, “This is Yangyang, my best sister.”
“Oh, isn’t she the one who moans and makes weird noises?”
“The one whose bed noises can be heard in the neighboring district?”
“The one who…”
Only then did Xia Leyang realize how famous he was. He blushed and shouted at Lin Wenchu, “Sister Ghost, why do you say everything out loud!”
Lin Wenchu immediately complained to the female ghosts, “How could you say that!”
The female ghosts left the Gu family mansion with smiles, and before leaving, they didn’t forget to cheer Xia Leyang up, asking him to learn to “sit down and move by himself” sooner.
Xia Leyang felt embarrassed, but Shang Tingzhi timely pulled him into his arms, comforting him, “Don’t listen to their nonsense.”
Xia Leyang curled up in Shang Tingzhi’s arms, but soon he realized something was wrong and asked, “Can you hear them talking?”
Shang Tingzhi poked his eyes with his index and middle fingers, saying, “And see.”
“What?” Xia Leyang asked puzzledly, “Why?”
Shang Tingzhi once gave Lin Wenchu a vial of blood, but Lin Wenchu never used it. After the abortion, her resentment diminished considerably, so she had no intention of seeking revenge anymore.
However, last night, Li Shan hurriedly summoned her back to the Gu family mansion, and at the same time, also summoned her female ghost friends. Her female ghost friends couldn’t bear to see her in trouble, so they insisted on helping, which led to today’s collective makeup to scare Zhou Runhua.
Those female ghosts were not vengeful spirits and didn’t have much spiritual power, so it wasn’t easy for them to appear in front of Zhou Runhua. Fortunately, Lin Wenchu had powerful supplements in her hands, coupled with Li Shan’s help, this group of female ghosts had the chance to experience what it felt like to be vengeful spirits.
And the reason why Shang Tingzhi could see them was simply because the effects hadn’t worn off yet, so these female ghosts could still materialize temporarily.
“I see.” Xia Leyang suddenly realized, “So you didn’t go scare Zhou Runhua just now?”
“No.” Lin Wenchu smiled relievedly, “I followed him all day today and felt… quite boring.”
“I’ve been living happily for this period of time, especially after the abortion. I feel so relieved, and I don’t want to think about the past anymore.” Lin Wenchu stood up from the red wooden box and walked to Xia Leyang. She sighed lightly, smiled at him, and said, “Thank you, Yangyang. You’re truly like a ray of sunshine, brightening my life after death.”
The words sounded a bit strange and sentimental. Xia Leyang didn’t know how to respond for a moment and awkwardly said, “Thank you too, Sister Ghost. After I return to my country, you’ll be my only friend.”
At this point, Xia Leyang held Shang Tingzhi’s arm with one hand and continued, “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be with him.”
“You two were destined to be together.” Lin Wenchu looked at them back and forth, “Even without me, you would have ended up together someday.”
Xia Leyang smirked, nudging Shang Tingzhi with his elbow, and repeated Lin Wenchu’s words, “She said we were destined to be together.”
“We already were.” Shang Tingzhi hugged Xia Leyang, lowering his head to kiss his forehead.
“Enough, enough, enough.” Before things got too sentimental, Lin Wenchu returned to her usual impatient demeanor. She rolled her eyes and said, “Stop feeding me dog food, OK?”
Reluctantly pulling away from Shang Tingzhi’s embrace, Xia Leyang looked at the red wooden box behind Lin Wenchu and asked, “So, Sister Ghost, are you going home now?”
Upon hearing the words “going home,” Lin Wenchu slowly put away her unserious expression. She took a deep breath, looked around at the street scenery, and there was an obvious reluctance in her eyes.
“I’ve been away from home for too long.” She murmured absentmindedly, then withdrew her gaze, revealing a brilliant smile to Xia Leyang, “It’s also time for me to go home.”
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