The Ghost Child Blocks the Door

Wang Bin had called Yang Jian earlier in the day, but was exasperated by his demand for a hefty sum of 500,000 yuan. A high school student, barely grown, with the audacity to ask for such a high price? If it weren't for his daughter Shanshan constantly talking about wanting to find Yang Jian, he wouldn't have bothered to call him at all.

What could a student just out of adolescence truly understand? Even if there were ghosts, would he know how to catch them?

Due to his daughter's situation, Wang Bin had been in a gloomy state for the past two days. He took a few days off from work and stayed at home to accompany his daughter.

"Shan Shan's condition is worsening. The doctor said she's physically fine, with no illness, just a bit of a nervous breakdown from being frightened. Do you think we should take her to a psychiatrist tomorrow?" Wang Shanshan's mother, Wang Haiyan, spoke with a look of worry.

Wang Bin replied, "It seems like our only option. That Yang Jian is being outrageous, asking for a 500,000 yuan reward. How did our daughter come to know someone so shameless? We should limit Shanshan's contact with him in the future."

"The first time I saw that young man named Yang Jian, I could tell he wasn't a good person, willing to take even 200 yuan, without any self-respect or integrity," Wang Haiyan added with a face of disdain.

However, as the two sat in the living room talking, suddenly, the door to Wang Shanshan's room slammed shut. In the corner of their eyes, it seemed something darted into the room.

Wang Bin's expression changed dramatically, and he quickly stood up. Wang Haiyan, shocked, said, "Honey, did you see... it looked like a child ran into Shanshan's room."

"Don't talk nonsense and scare yourself," Wang Bin responded, though his face was far from normal, as he too seemed to have seen a child enter Shanshan's room.

The child was unclothed, with a skin tone of cyan-black... like that of a dead infant. Yet, the front door had been closed all along, and they were on the sixteenth floor; it was impossible for a child to have entered.

"Ah!" came a scream from Wang Shanshan's room the next moment.

Wang Bin rushed over and opened the door, only to find the room in pitch darkness. The light had been turned off at some point, which was unusual because his daughter never slept with the light off these days.

He reached for the switch, intending to turn the light back on, but instead touched a small hand. The hand was soft, like a child's, but ice-cold, devoid of any warmth, just like a corpse.

"What is this?" he thought, startled, and quickly pulled his hand back.

At that moment, Wang Shanshan, terrified, pushed past Wang Bin, her face pale and her body shaking as she ran out of the room.

"Daughter, what's wrong? What happened?" Wang Haiyan held Wang Shanshan and asked with concern.

Shan Shan was too scared to speak, trembling as she hid in her mother's embrace.

Wang Bin mustered his courage and turned on the light again. This time, he didn't touch the cold little hand.

With the room illuminated, there was no one present. No child in sight.

But then, his eyes narrowed.

On the floor of the room were dirty, child-sized footprints, scattered chaotically around the bedside, even on the walls and the ceiling.

At that moment, Wang Bin's inner conviction completely collapsed.

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

Yang Jian had been right.

It was very likely that there were ghosts in his home.

"Haiyan, take our daughter and leave here first. Let's stay in a hotel for a few days; it's not safe here," Wang Bin said while making the call.

"Okay, okay, I'll pack up right away," Wang Haiyan replied, also sensing that something was indeed present 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 phone, "Uncle Wang, what can I do for you?"

"Where are you now? Could you come over right away? I'd like to discuss the matter we talked about earlier, and we can negotiate the price," Wang Bin said urgently.

"I'm working now and have to get back to it soon. If it's not urgent, I think we can discuss it over the phone," Yang Jian replied.

Wang Bin said, "I'm about to go out. Where do you work? I'll come to you."

Feeling an ominous presence at home, he thought it was necessary to meet Yang Jian in person and have a serious discussion.

"Fu Ren Mall," Yang Jian said.

"Alright, we're on our way..." Wang Bin finished, put on his shoes, and prepared to leave, but found that the front door wouldn't budge.

He exerted some force, but the door remained motionless.

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

"The door seems to be broken and won't open," Wang Bin said.

Wang Haiyan suggested, "Maybe something is blocking it."

"Let me check," Wang Bin looked through the peephole and saw a child, a naked child with cyan-black skin, standing outside the door, pushing against it. The child's eyes had no pupils, just pitch black, and it looked up towards the peephole. There was an innocence in the dark eyes, mixed with a strange malevolence.

Wang Bin's face turned pale instantly, and he backed away in fear.

"Hello, Uncle Wang, are you still there? If there's nothing else, I'll hang up," Yang Jian said on the other end.

"No, don't hang up, please don't hang up," Wang Bin clutched the phone desperately, "That child is standing right outside my door. I can't get out. Can you come and help us? We can discuss the money."

Yang Jian was taken aback and then became very serious.

The ghost child was outside Wang Shanshan's house?

"I'll try my best to get there. Be careful and stay away from it," Yang Jian said before hanging up and setting off immediately.

"Hey, where are you going, Yang Jian?" someone asked.

Yang Jian replied, "I have an urgent matter to attend to, I'll be back soon."

As he left, Wang Bin, who had hung up the phone, watched in horror as the doorknob slowly turned.

It seemed like whatever was outside was about to open the door and come in.

Panicking, Wang Bin quickly ran to the door, bolted it, and locked it tightly, making sure every possible security measure was in place.

"That thing is coming, it's coming in, where is Yang Jian, where is Yang Jian? I need Yang Jian," Wang Shanshan shouted in terror, on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Wang Bin retreated, equally frightened. He stared at the door, which had fallen silent, but instead of feeling relieved, he became more anxious.

"What's going on outside, honey?" Wang Haiyan, still unaware of the situation, asked.

"Don't ask, come on, let's go back to the room," Wang Bin said, realizing the front door was no longer an option. He led his wife and daughter back to the master bedroom, turning on all the lights and closing the bedroom door.

He watched the door for a while, seeing no movement outside, and breathed a slight sigh of relief.

However, the next moment, he distinctly heard the sound of the front door opening from the living room.

"Impossible," he thought, panicking.

The front door had so many locks on it; it couldn't be opened even with a key. How could it just be opened so easily?

The child he had seen through the peephole was perhaps... a ghost.

"What should I do, what should I do?"

Wang Bin frantically thought of a solution.

He looked at the window.

They were on the sixteenth floor; there was no way to escape through the window, and the danger of climbing to the adjacent unit was equally high. One wrong move and a fall meant certain death.

Could it be that they were just sitting here waiting to die?