When there's a ghost at home, even the strongest person can't bear to stay there any longer. But Yang Jian had to take the risk to get that red newspaper again; it was an opportunity to overcome the revival of the fierce ghost.
"Wait here for that thing to come back," Yang Jian hesitated for a long time, then gritted his teeth and decided not to leave, choosing to wait at home for the ghost to return.
Knowing there's a ghost and daring to wait for it to come back requires a lot of courage. Yang Jian, of course, had a lot of courage; he was staying with the determination to face death.
Surviving by any means necessary now would just be a slow suicide. Once the eye in his body grew uncontrollable, it would be too late.
While Yang Jian was waiting at home for the ghost, in another part of Dachang City, in a high-end residential area, this was Wang Shanshan's home.
Ever since the haunting incident at school two days ago, she hadn't stepped out of her house. She had been hiding at home for these two days because she noticed something was wrong with her own home.
In the bathroom, water rushed down, flowing over her fair and delicate body. But Wang Shanshan's eyes were filled with fear and a hint of madness. She was using a toilet brush to frantically scrub a spot next to her neck in the mirror.
The tender skin of the girl turned bright red from the excessive scrubbing. Normally, no one could bear such pain, but Wang Shanshan seemed oblivious, instead increasing the force of her scrubbing, her eyes becoming increasingly terrified.
Soon, a piece of skin on her neck split open, seeping bright red blood. The blood mixed with the warm water of the bathroom, staining the floor red. But no matter how much she scrubbed or how much blood flowed, the two blue-black little handprints on the bloody skin remained clearly visible, as if they had grown into the flesh, a birthmark from the womb, impossible to wash away.
At this moment, Wang Shanshan's mother, Wang Haiyan, was sitting on the sofa in the living room, looking at the time on her watch, her face showing concern.
"My daughter has been in the bathroom for over two hours, and she took a bath this morning... She might be sick or not feeling well."
Beside her, Wang Shanshan's father, Wang Bin, also showed concern: "She's been acting strange since she came back from school yesterday morning, eating very little, staying in her room all day... She even turns on all the lights in the house during the day, very afraid of the dark. Today, she's been bathing all day. If she continues like this, we should see a doctor tomorrow."
"Honey, have you heard what happened at the school the night before last? I can't get through to the teacher's phone," said Wang Haiyan.
"I went to the school yesterday. Something definitely happened; it's been sealed off, and all students are forced to take a vacation. We have to wait for the school's notice about when to start school... And I met many other parents of students when I was there."
Wang Bin was smoking, deeply frowning, his expression quite serious.
"Other parents said that their children have been missing since the night before last, after evening study. They can't get through on the phone, and they can't find them. There are quite a few missing students."
Wang Haiyan was shocked: "How could this be?"
"There must be something that happened at the school, but we just don't know yet. I wanted to ask Shanshan, but she's in this state now, and I don't want to ask her, afraid of putting pressure on her."
Wang Bin extinguished his cigarette and said seriously: "Shanshan must have experienced something. She seems scared now."
Wang Haiyan speculated: "Honey, do you think Shanshan met some bad people, was bullied? I saw a news report before, also about a girl who was dragged into the bathroom by a group of thugs and bullied. When she came back, she was mentally abnormal, always feeling dirty, always bathing... and finally committed suicide."
"Absolutely impossible, this is a large-scale student disappearance incident, the school is covering it up. By the way, didn't Shanshan come back with her classmate yesterday morning?" said Wang Bin.
"Yes, I've seen that classmate, his name is Yang Jian," said Wang Haiyan.
"He must know what happened to Shanshan, we should call and ask her classmate," said Wang Bin.
Wang Haiyan said: "I thought about it, but I don't know the classmate's phone number."
But at this moment, a hysterical scream came from the bathroom: "Ah～!"
Wang Bin and his wife's faces changed immediately, and they rushed to the bathroom door, but it was locked and couldn't be opened.
"Daughter, open the door, what happened, mom is right outside," Wang Haiyan knocked on the bathroom door, urgently asking.
But the scream from Wang Shanshan was still coming from the bathroom.
Wang Bin felt the situation might be very serious, his face changed, and he didn't bother knocking anymore, but directly forced the bathroom door open.
"Bang～!"
With a loud noise, the door was broken open.
As a mother, Wang Haiyan rushed in first. She saw the bathroom floor was all covered with blood, and she was so scared that her face turned pale. Then she saw her daughter, naked and curled up in the corner of the bathroom, her neck covered in blood that stained her whole body, burying her head in fear, as if she had been shocked by something huge.
"What's wrong with you, daughter?"
Wang Haiyan was so distressed that she was about to cry. She took a bath towel and covered her daughter first.
"That thing came, it came, it's outside the window, it's outside the window... it's coming for me," Wang Shanshan said in extreme fear, "No, don't come, don't come."
"What thing? There's nothing outside the window, Shanshan, don't scare yourself," Wang Haiyan looked out the bathroom window and found nothing.
"No, it's outside the window, it's watching me."
Wang Shanshan clutched her mother's arm in panic and said, "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 cried.
"Shanshan, it's okay, it's okay, you'll be fine, you'll be fine, mom is here," Wang Haiyan comforted with tears.
"That thing found me, it's outside the window, outside the window, I'm going to die soon, wuwu..." Wang Shanshan said.
Wang Haiyan looked at the window again and said, "There's really nothing outside the window, our home is on the sixteenth floor, there's nothing outside, you can see for yourself."
"Mom, it really came, I want to live at Yang Jian's house, I don't want to die," Wang Shanshan still cried, trembling all over.
At this time, Wang Bin, who was on the side, was silent for a while and said, "First, take Shanshan back to the room to get dressed, then go to the clinic below to bandage the wound, and tomorrow I'll try to find that Yang Jian to ask about the situation."
Wang Haiyan nodded, and she helped Wang Shanshan leave the bathroom.
After the mother and daughter left, Wang Bin turned off the hot water in the bathroom and rinsed the blood on the floor.
When he was about to leave, he suddenly looked at the bathroom window.
The window was closed.
Wang Bin looked out after wiping it and looked to see if there was really something outside?
Our home is on the sixteenth floor, how could there be something outside.
Sure enough.
Wang Bin saw nothing.
But as he was about to close the window, he suddenly froze.
The window was covered with a layer of steam, and a clear handprint was on it.
The handprint looked very small, not an adult's, like a handprint of a four or five-year-old child.
And the handprint extended from outside the window to the inside of the bathroom.
On the steamy bathroom wall.
Even on the ceiling, there were handprints, places that Shanshan couldn't reach.
The small handprints were dense and clearly visible.
Wang Bin's heart trembled, feeling that something was very wrong.
Tonight, Wang Shanshan's family didn't sleep all night.
Similarly, Zhang Wei didn't sleep either.
He had just returned home from the police station.
His father, Zhang Xiangui, thought he had done something bad, beat him up when he came home, and didn't allow him to sleep in his room.
Zhang Wei stood on the balcony looking outside, frowning and thinking all night.
Who exactly... framed himself?