It was already past midnight, and respectable households had long since fallen asleep.
The inexplicable cries of a baby woke everyone up.
Some ill-tempered residents opened their doors and shouted into the corridor.
"Enough already! Whose child is that?"
"Can you keep it quiet? It's the middle of the night; people are trying to sleep!"
"Aren't you scared? No baby should be able to cry that loudly."
"It's terrifying; could it be a ghost?"
Gradually, more and more residents opened their doors.
Aunt Liu from 102 on the first floor leaned on the stair railing, peering upstairs and shouting, "Whose child is it? Stop disturbing everyone!"
Just as she spoke, a figure appeared out of thin air behind her.
Aunt Liu didn't see it, but her husband and the neighbor across the hall did.
"A ghost… it's a ghost!"
The neighbor across the hall screamed and slammed their door shut.
Aunt Liu shuddered in fear and turned around, only to see a pale face close to hers. Their noses were almost touching.
At the same moment, she saw her husband's terrified face as he shut their door with a bang, locking her outside.
Aunt Liu cursed her husband internally and thought she'd deal with him later.
"Miss, are you human... or a ghost?"
Aunt Liu's legs trembled, and she took a few shaky steps back.
In front of her stood a young woman in ancient white robes.
She looked normal but didn't blink, exuding a chilling aura.
"My child is missing, can you help me find my child?"
The woman in white spoke softly, her voice carrying a note of sorrow like a frightened girl.
"Miss, if your child is missing, call the police. I haven't seen your child."
Aunt Liu suddenly realized that the baby's cries had ceased since the woman's appearance.
"If you can't find my child, you will die."
"Miss, that's unreasonable. Your missing child has nothing to do with me."
As Aunt Liu spoke, she knocked on her door behind her, but it wouldn't open.
The woman in white smiled eerily and vanished in a flash, reappearing within Aunt Liu.
They overlapped strangely, with Aunt Liu solid and the woman in white appearing ethereal.
"Help! Help!"
Aunt Liu screamed, but her body was frozen in place. Her hair turned white, her skin wrinkled and yellowed, and she rapidly aged until she was nothing but a withered corpse.
"Ah!"
The scream came from the neighbor across the hall, who had witnessed everything through the peephole.
The ghostly woman licked her pale lips, seeming to enjoy it, kicked the corpse aside, and knocked on the door.
After three knocks, there was no response. She smiled again and disappeared.
Screams of terror followed from inside the room.
"What's going on downstairs?"
"Didn't someone just shout there was a ghost?"
"Nonsense, there's no such thing as ghosts. I've lived for decades and never seen one."
Some frightened residents had already shut their doors, but many remained skeptical and wandered the corridors.
Xia Tianqiong, who had been trying to recall information about this ghostly mother and child, heard the screams and quickly opened his door, stepping into the corridor.
His female neighbor across the hall also peeked out, her face filled with uncertainty.
"Xiao Xia, don't go out; there seems to be a ghost downstairs."
Xia Tianqiong, with a grave expression, didn't reply. He went to the stairwell and looked down.
After a moment's hesitation, he shouted, "Agree to her demands, or you'll die immediately."
He repeated it three times, his voice echoing through the corridor, even louder than the screams.
Someone downstairs asked, "What do you mean? Is there really a ghost?"
Xia Tianqiong didn't answer, standing silently at the door, waiting for the ghostly mother.
He wasn't one to meddle in others' affairs, as involving oneself with supernatural beings brought more trouble. But the situation was different now.
Once this ghostly mother and child appeared, the entire building became their hunting ground; no one could escape.
The ghost child, though fierce, wouldn't actively kill. But the ghostly mother was extremely dangerous, enforcing two deadly rules.
The first rule was that anyone asked to find her child must agree, or they would be devoured immediately.
The second rule was that every ten minutes, she would reappear and ask a random person if they had found the ghost child. If the answer was yes, that person would live and receive a ghostly artifact as a reward, while everyone else would be devoured. If the answer was no, that person would be devoured, and the cycle would continue every ten minutes until the ghost child was found or everyone was dead.
The first rule was easy to avoid, but the second was nearly impossible, as the ghost child could teleport to any shadow or dark place. Even if seen, it couldn't be caught.
Xia Tianqiong warned others because the more people alive, the longer he could delay. If everyone died under the first rule, he'd have only ten minutes left, even if he agreed to help.
But he didn't know how to find or catch the ghost child. Although he remembered much about supernatural beings, many had no known solutions, including the "ghostly mother searching for her child."
In his past life, this mother and child had appeared many times, mostly ending in death. Only two people survived: one who became the ghost child's servant and another who, through their powerful contracted ghost, broke the ghostly mother's rules.
Xia Tianqiong only had a low-level ghost delivery entity, far weaker than the ghostly mother. He didn't want to become the ghost child's servant, so his only hope was to find the ghost child.
"Xia Tianqiong."
Jiang Yu called softly, "What are you talking about? Could there really be a ghost?"
She was an ordinary city office worker, with average looks but an attractive figure. Xia Tianqiong had helped her with small tasks, and they were fairly familiar.
"Jiang Yu, do as I say. If that thing asks you to do something, agree, or you'll die immediately."
While they talked, screams and shouts continued downstairs, as no one heeded Xia Tianqiong's warning.
"If you don't want to die, agree to her demands."
He shouted into the corridor again.
A minute later, someone responded, "It works! Just agree to help find the child, and nothing happens."
For the next three to five minutes, no more screams were heard.
Jiang Yu came out, standing beside Xia Tianqiong and peering down the stairs.
"Why is it quiet now? Did it leave?"
She might have jinxed it, as a figure suddenly appeared beside her.
The ghostly mother stared at Jiang Yu with lifeless eyes.
"My child is missing, can you help me find my child?"
"I... I..."
Jiang Yu's legs trembled, gripping Xia Tianqiong's arm tightly, too scared to speak properly.
If she couldn't respond quickly, it would trigger the death rule, and the ghostly mother could kill her.
"Don't be nervous, speak up," Xia Tianqiong reminded, frowning. In his past life, this female neighbor had been a formidable ghost hunter, far stronger than he was. How could she be so scared now?