1 Prologue

Old Hag

Today had been just another usual day for him. Qiao Tai felt greatly tired out after taking long lectures in the university and now he was going back home.

Inside his head he calculated the time left to reach home. He wondered whether he should buy a wrist watch after getting pay at the end of the month. But then he shrugged of the thought and instead he decided to buy a baby shirt for his younger brother. He loved his younger brother immensely.

Before his father had breathed his last on the hospital bed, he had handed the responsibility of taking care of his younger seven-year-old brother to Qiao. And from then on, he had been following his promise. He took care of all his needs and made sure that he got the best Qiao could get for him.

There were times when it all seemed stressful and he would be frustrated. He would visit game parlors and vent out his feeling there at other players. But at the end of the day he just wanted to see his brother smile.

Today was much better as he would soon get his part-time job's payment. He would never greet his brother with a down face, lest he made him worry unnecessarily. As he walked down the familiar lane, he eased up his expression.

His home was just next street, so he slowed down his pace. Taking a deep, calm breath he continued forward when he saw a stranger in front of him.

An old woman was walking the same street, she was carrying a present box while her hands were shaking. It looked she was too old to walk the distance.

When she saw Qiao walking over at a slow pace and she called him. Qiao turned to see the old woman.

"Son, can you render a small help to this old woman?" she pleaded.

Qiao had just calmed down and cheered up a little bit when this request came out of nowhere, so he dryly asked, "What is it?"

He was never that popular in helping the needy, nor did he have any such plans for the future life. But for this once, he asked someone what was it that he could help with?

Qiao usually never meddled with the needs of other people. Others had never treated him with any preference or kindness. In fact most of the time, he was bullied and made a laughingstock. It made him feel helpless. And he did not like that feeling.

But just this once he supposed nothing could go wrong, so he asked.

The old woman extended a box toward him with shaking hands, "The shop at the corner, can you send this box there?" she again pleaded.

Qiao thought for a while and took the box. He was going the same direction and from the corner he could simply hand over the box and be done with it. It should not be a problem, he thought.

When he took the box, the old woman spoke some good words for him but he did not respond.

He was getting late and if he did not reach on time, first of all his younger brother would be starving after returning from school. And he would also get late for his part-time job.

He looked at the box, it seemed the old woman still remembered some of her relatives and wanted to send them this parcel.

When he reached the shop, a man was looking at him. It was strange that despite walking through this lane all these years, he never happened to see this particular shopkeeper.

As soon as he extended his hand to give the parcel to the shopkeeper, it felt that something invisible suddenly gulped the shop, not only that, but it seemed as if the surroundings were getting sucked into it.

He could only focus on the hysterical laughter that resounded inside his mind. His focus was waning and he could not see clearly.

He thought for a moment maybe someone was pranking him and they would stop soon. But he could not have been more wrong. A suffocating feeling started to encroach him. He lost the feeling in his legs, then his hands. It slowly spread to his chest and was approaching his head.

Fear engulfed him as he stood there, not aware of his surroundings and unable to do anything. The feeling of being helpless again erupted in him, as he realized that he could do nothing to resolve this crisis.

His mind suddenly remembered the old woman and he cursed her, "Old hag…" through gritted teeth. He wanted to shout out and curse her but no voice came out.

He simply was too weak to stop what was happening, he was being pulled by some strong force and he could not go against it.

In his panic all he could do was to close his eyes and hope that this nightmare would end, hopefully leaving him alive.

One thought resounded in his mind as all this happened.

It turned out that his good deed returned back like a curse.

"Screw you old hag…" he shouted in his mind before facing the worst.