Chapter 20

The ground!

I looked down.

It was too dark.

I couldn't see anything.

Slowly, I crouched and felt along the ground with my right hand.

Not far ahead, I touched something.

Cold.

Smooth.

Uneven.

Hollows.

Raised places.

The feeling was familiar.

The hollow seemed like an eye socket.

The raised part, a nose.

Wasn't this—

A human face?

“Aah—!”

Realizing what I'd touched, I screamed, jerked my hand back, and fell onto the ground.

“Hee hee hee... You found me.”

Laughter that made my hair stand on end.

Wasn't that the voice of the little girl from last night?

This was their territory.

Even with Mr. Zhang beside me, they still had ways to deal with me.

But we'd come in together.

So even if I couldn't see him, he had to be nearby.

If I smashed the bowl, something would happen.

Perhaps because I'd faced terror so many times, this time, frightened as I was, I managed to calm down quickly.

Once I did, my mind cleared, and I began to assess my situation.

I reached into my pocket to take out the bowl.

But just before my fingertips touched it, my whole body stiffened.

I couldn't move.

No!

Had she realized what I was planning?

Alarm rang inside me.

But I tried to stay calm.

I couldn't let it show.

I couldn't show fear.

I couldn't let them keep playing with me like a puppet.

“Lanlan, stop playing. Bring her back. Don't waste time.”

A familiar voice came from ahead.

My “mother's.”

It was still pitch-black.

I couldn't see anything.

But I knew that voice too well.

The person I loved most in the world was tenderly calling someone else's pet name.

And I was a stranger, merely the subject of their conversation.

How bitterly ironic.

“Hee hee. Okay, Mommy.”

That was the last thing I heard before losing consciousness.

Cold.

Cold to the bone.

As though I'd been locked in an ice cellar.

The terrible cold woke me.

Slowly, I opened my eyes.

The first thing I saw was a doll.

It sat on a small table, facing me.

Its eyes seemed to smile as it stared.

The little-girl doll I'd found in Mom's room.

The instant I recognized it, I was fully awake.

And I realized how much danger I was in.

My hands were tied behind my back with rope.

I was secured to a chair, facing the doll.

I looked around.

Then horror struck.

This was my bedroom.

I didn't know how they'd brought me here.

I'd been entering the alley with Mr. Zhang.

If I was here now, wouldn't that mean he couldn't find me?

Then I was in terrible danger.

Right!

The bowl he'd given me was still in my coat pocket.

It was my only chance.

I twisted with all my strength.

The ropes were too tight.

I couldn't get a hand into my pocket.

As I tried desperately to work out how to reach it and smash it, footsteps sounded outside.

They were coming.

I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to be unconscious.

“Have you got everything ready? We have to hurry. The ritual must be finished before that damned old man finds us.”

“Mom's” voice.

Then the bedroom door opened and closed.

From the footsteps, two people had come in.

“Meizhen, don't worry. Everything's ready.”

As I'd expected, it was the man.

“Lanlan, you're going to have a normal life soon.”

“Mom's” voice was tender, full of love and affection.

Just as my mother had called me Yiyi countless times before.

I couldn't help opening my eyes a crack.

“Mom” was bending over the doll, stroking it.

My nose stung.

The doll stared at me as if mocking me.

“What a shame. We were supposed to wait until April eleventh, her birthday, when the Gate of Life opened. But that old man ruined our plans. Now we have to bring it forward, force the Gate open so Lanlan can replace Yiyi. This isn't the best time. At the very least, it'll set Lanlan's mental development back two years. Ah... I wish I could kill that old man.”

From everything that had happened, I'd already begun to guess why they'd taken me.

But hearing him say it still made my scalp go numb.

They wanted Mom and me to disappear from this world completely.

Their family would take our places and live normal lives.

“Never mind. What matters is that Lanlan gets this body. We can work on her development afterward. It's eleven forty. Only twenty minutes left. Begin.”

What?

They were starting the ritual now?

What could I do?

Who could save me?

Through narrowed eyes, I watched every movement.

I didn't dare act rashly.

Inside, I was frantic.

The man went to the doll, lifted it, and placed it in a container beside the table.

I couldn't see exactly what it was.

About the size of a medium footbath basin.

I hadn't noticed it when I woke.

Now I certainly couldn't see what was inside.

Soon after the doll went in, smoke began rising from it.

Its outer skin started peeling away.

No.

Melting was the right word.

Like a wax figure slowly dissolving.

As it melted, its once-cute face grew savage and frightening.

My body began shaking uncontrollably.

In the end, I was still afraid.

Once the doll had melted completely into the basin, a little girl appeared on the floor beside the table.

She lay with her eyes shut.

She wore exactly the same outfit as the doll.

The hair that had hung loose when she came looking for me was now tied in a ponytail to match.

None of her earlier sinister air remained.

The man reached into the basin.

When he withdrew his hand, he held a silver needle.

He turned toward me and bared his teeth in a smile.

Then he approached, needle in hand, until he stood beside me.

I immediately closed my eyes and kept pretending to be unconscious.

Waiting to see what he'd do.

A hand lifted mine.

Then it repeatedly felt the spot between my thumb and index finger.

Like a doctor feeling for a vein before an injection.

I suddenly remembered Grandma examining “Mom” at the hospital.

To complete the ritual, they had to do something behind my ear and between my thumb and index finger.

Now I knew their purpose.

I couldn't keep pretending to be unconscious.

I could feel he'd found the spot.

The needle was aimed at my hand.

At exactly the right moment, I deliberately sneezed hard.

And said, “So cold...”

It was a loud sneeze.

I pitched my body forward and slammed my head into the man beside me.

The unexpected movement startled him.

The silver needle slipped from his hand, hit the floor, and rolled under the bed.

That was the chance I'd been waiting for.

A surprise.

In a direct confrontation, I had no hope.

They could use supernatural power to make me unable to move.

Only this way could I buy time to save myself.

The man and “Mom” immediately bent to find the needle.

I acted as though I'd just woken and asked blankly, “Isn't this my home? What do you want? Let me go!”

Lanlan still lay on the floor, eyes closed.

The two stood and glared at me.

I knew they were furious.

But I also knew they wouldn't do anything to me.

They still needed my body to bring their daughter back.

“What are you going to do to me? Please, let me go. My father did something wrong... but Mom and I are innocent!”

I kept pretending I knew nothing.

I put everything into the performance, tears and snot streaming down my face.

They didn't waver.

“Mom” crouched again and reached under the bed.

At once, as though pulled by an invisible thread, the needle flew into her hand.

Only then did I remember.

They weren't human.

Of course they had supernatural powers.

How much time could a bed buy me?

“People die in traffic accidents every year. Drivers don't want to cause tragedies either. They don't do it on purpose. And Dad already paid for it. Why won't you let go? Why hurt innocent people?”

I kept talking, hoping only to buy more time.

While pretending to be unconscious, I'd heard them mention midnight.

If I could hold out for another ten minutes or so, perhaps I'd have a chance.

“Innocent? Not on purpose?”

The man laughed coldly.

“If it had been an ordinary accident, of course I wouldn't be hounding your family. But that crash could have been avoided! You don't drink and drive. Even primary-school children know that. Didn't your father? Two cups of baijiu and five bottles of beer, and he still drove. How is that different from murder? You call that an accident?”

The more he spoke, the more agitated he became.

His face reddened.

By the end, he was almost screaming.

I was stunned too.

All this time, I'd thought it was only an accident.

I hadn't known Dad had been driving drunk.

That he'd killed a mother and her daughter.

For a moment, I had no defense left.

After a long silence, I lowered my head.

“I'm sorry.”

“Sorry is useless. All I want... is to be with Meizhen and Lanlan again. I've spent ten years preparing for today.”

He calmed down, took the needle from “Mom,” and approached me again.

Before I'd recovered from the shock, a sharp pain stabbed between my thumb and index finger.

I looked down.

A needle hole.

A small bead of blood welled up.

He prepared a second puncture.

I immediately jerked my hand back.

He didn't seem bothered.

Instead of forcing me, he turned to “Mom.”

“Meizhen, make her behave.”

An invisible force seized my whole body.

I couldn't move.

Seeing the needle about to descend again, I hurriedly said, “My stomach hurts! I need the bathroom!”

He paused.

“Hold it for a moment. Stop stalling.”

“No! It really hurts! I'm going to wet myself!”

Though I couldn't move, I tried to sound desperately urgent.

He ignored me, concentrating on the place he was about to pierce.

“I'm on your territory. What could I possibly do? You have a daughter too. Think how humiliating it would be for a girl to wet herself!”

He looked at me, seeming to hesitate.

“Mom” checked the time.

Then she said, “All right. Let her go. I don't want my daughter waking up in filthy clothes. Yiyi. You have three minutes. When time's up, whatever you're doing in there, I'll come in and get you.”

“Okay... Then please untie me.”

The man went behind me and undid the ropes.

At the same time, the force holding my body disappeared.

I couldn't help grumbling inwardly.

If they could stop me moving with magic, why bother with the ropes, like some movie?

The moment I was free, I went straight to the bathroom.

As long as I could move, I had a chance.

Once inside, I immediately took the bowl from my pocket and hurled it at the floor.

I'd expected a loud crash.

But the moment it touched the ground, it turned into a wisp of bluish smoke and vanished.

No sound.

No trace.

Nothing around me changed.

I stared blankly at the place where it had disappeared.

Despair swallowed me.

I'd placed all my hopes in that bowl.

I'd thought that if I broke it, Mr. Zhang would appear at once and save me.

Instead, it had dissolved into nothing.

Then that was it.

It was really over.

“Yiyi, are you done?”

“Mom” began hurrying me from outside.

My mind was empty.

I didn't know what to do.

I didn't answer.

I wasn't even thinking of escaping anymore.

I stood in the middle of the bathroom and stared at the door.

Mom.

I'm sorry.

In the end, I still couldn't save you.

Bang!

The bathroom door burst open.

“Mom” stood there, looking at me without expression.

“Let's go. Don't waste time.”

I followed her back to my room.

I'd given up resisting.

Obediently, I sat in the chair.

The man came over and took my hand again.

The needle pierced it.

I felt the pain distinctly.

But I didn't even frown.

Once you're truly hopeless, nothing frightens you anymore.

He withdrew the needle and leaned close.

With one hand, he turned my head aside.

With the other, he felt behind my ear.

I closed my eyes.

Quietly waiting for death.

Once he'd made two holes behind my ear, perhaps I'd be like Mom.

No longer my own.

“Yiyi. Find a way to open the living-room door.”

Through the haze, I heard Mr. Zhang.

My eyes flew open.

I looked around.

He wasn't there.

“Mom” still stood beside me.

Lanlan lay on the floor.

The man was preparing to pierce behind my ear.

There was no mistake.

It was Mr. Zhang's voice.

He'd come.

He'd come to save me.

But the front door was locked.

He couldn't get in.

He might know how to deal with ghosts, but that didn't mean he could walk through walls.

“Wait... wait!”

I raised a hand to block the needle.

Before the man could react, I stood and stepped aside.

“What now?”

He frowned.

His patience was clearly at its limit.

“I know... I don't have much time. Soon, I won't be Yiyi anymore. I don't even know what I'll be after I disappear. But before I go, could you help me with one last wish?”

I tried to sound as pitiful as possible, hoping to move them.

“Meizhen. Hold her. We're running out of time.”

He was unmoved.

He wanted “Mom” to restrain me with her power again.

“Wait! Sir... ma'am... You have a daughter too. Lanlan's my age. She's just an innocent girl. In all of this, I haven't done anything wrong. Now all I want is to fulfill one tiny wish before I disappear. So I won't have any regrets. Please...”

My voice broke as I begged.

“Mom” checked the clock.

The man seemed a little affected too.

Seeing a glimmer of hope, I went on.

“I won't take up much time. I only want to look at a photograph of my family one last time. I want my last memory to be the happiest moment of my life. It was my fifth birthday. We took a picture together.”

“Where is it?”

At last.

Perhaps because they were parents too.

Because they loved their daughter with all their hearts.

Seeing me like that, “Mom” softened.

“In an album in the drawer of Mom's bedside cabinet. Can I go and get it?”

I edged toward the door as I spoke.

“Stay there. Meizhen, you get it.”

The man stopped me and turned to “Mom.”

“All right... I think it's on page five... or maybe six. Please have a look.”

I deliberately gave vague clues.

So “Mom” would have to search herself.

That was what I really wanted.

She left without closing the door.

Then I heard a drawer opening in the room next door.

The man and I stood facing each other.

He didn't even look at me.

His eyes were on Lanlan.

“Yiyi, which album?”

“Mom” called from the other room.

There were three albums.

I'd deliberately failed to mention that.

I'd been waiting for this question.

“Oh... I think it's the red one.”

I answered loudly on purpose.

“There isn't a red one!”

“Huh? Then... maybe I remembered wrong...”

“Hurry up! Which one is it?” Her voice was growing impatient.

“Let me think... You've got three there. What do they look like? It's been so long, I've forgotten.”

“What a nuisance. Go and look for yourself. If you can't find it, forget it. For Lanlan's sake, we've already given you every concession we can.”

The man beside me spoke.

“Okay.”

Those were the words I'd been waiting for.

Every vague answer had been deliberate.

I'd found their greatest weakness.

Their love for their daughter.

That bond had given me this chance.

I walked quickly to my bedroom door.

Then I accelerated.

But instead of going to Mom's room, I ran straight for the living room.

The man hadn't expected me to bolt in that direction.

By the time he reacted, all he could do was shout, “Stop!”

Then he gave chase.

But our apartment wasn't large.

That tiny delay was enough for me to reach the front door.

I opened it immediately.

Sure enough, a familiar figure stood outside.

Mr. Zhang.

“Clever little girl, aren't you?”

He chuckled and stepped inside.

It had all happened so quickly.

Only after he was in did “Mom” come running from the next room.

At the sight of him, I truly felt as though the whole world had lit up.

Was this what it felt like to return from the dead?

Triumphantly, I looked back at the man and “Mom,” both standing stunned.

They stared at me with venomous hatred, as though they wanted to flay me alive.

“A scrawny old man like that? I could knock him down with one hand. You think his being here changes anything?”

He sounded defiant.

But I could hear it.

He was starting to panic.

I looked at Mr. Zhang.

He was only as tall as I was, and painfully thin.

Then I looked at the powerfully built man before us.

They were completely mismatched.

For someone like Mr. Zhang to make him so wary...

He really did have ability.

“Young man. It's true I can't beat you in a fight. But your wife and daughter... I can handle them easily. My family has been in this line of work for generations.”

Mr. Zhang didn't rise to the provocation.

“You bastard!”

Enraged, the man rushed forward, grabbed his collar, and lifted him as though he were a chick.

He raised his fist.

I ran over in alarm and caught his arm, trying to stop him.

But he was far too strong.

One sweep of his hand sent me to the floor.

As I fell, I heard a scream from “Mom.”

I looked around.

She was holding her head and rolling on the ground, screaming in pain.

“Aah—!”

The man immediately released Mr. Zhang and rushed to hold her.

“Meizhen! Meizhen! Don't be afraid! I'm here!”

“All these years... How you've nurtured their souls. How you've given them awareness and memory. How you mean to bring them back to life. These past few days, I've worked it all out. So give up. I'll never let you succeed.”

Mr. Zhang spoke slowly.

“Ancient sorcery. Lodging dead souls in dolls. Feeding them your blood every day. You've put a great deal into these ten years, haven't you?”

“Aah—!”

The man didn't answer.

Only “Mom” kept clutching her head and screaming.

“Stop. The dark arts you've taught yourself can't compete with the Taoist arts passed down through my family.”

Mr. Zhang kept trying to persuade him.

“No! I've waited ten years for this day! Don't even think about it!”

The man screamed wildly.

He lowered “Mom” to the floor, stood, and came toward us.

But just as he neared me, another scream came from my bedroom.

“Aah—!”

Lanlan's voice.

He stopped at once and rushed inside.

“Lanlan! Lanlan!”

“Those two died unjustly. I pity your family. For that reason, I can spare them. But you must let go of your hatred. Release Yiyi and her mother.”

From beginning to end, Mr. Zhang hadn't lifted a hand.

He hadn't taken out a single magical tool.

He'd simply stood there talking.

Yet the entire situation was in his control.

“Stop! I'll do what you say! Anything! Please stop!”

The screams of “Mom” and Lanlan had broken the man completely.

He begged through sobs.

The screaming ceased.

“Mom” fell unconscious on the floor.

The man came out of my room with tears still on his face.

Blood seeped from the corner of his lower lip.

He'd probably bitten it.

“I... can't beat you. Please spare my wife and daughter. I'll leave.”

His voice was desolate.

“I won't harm them. But you know as well as I do that souls can't stay lodged in objects forever. As time passes, they'll only suffer more. Let them rest.”

“I'll... stay with them forever.”

He went back into the room.

Soon, he emerged carrying two dolls.

One was Lanlan's beautiful doll.

The other was a woman.

He handed the woman's doll to Mr. Zhang.

Holding the beautiful doll himself, he left without a word.

After he'd gone, I ran to look into my room.

Lanlan was gone.

Her doll had melted completely into the basin.

Without a vessel, could she still exist?

“All right, Yiyi. I'll call an ambulance and have your mother taken to the hospital. She'll need to stay there for a while to recover.”

“Okay, Mr. Zhang. I want to see Grandma at the hospital too.”

Back in the living room, I said nothing more.

I only watched the clock on the wall.

Twelve fifty-one.

“Mom, don't worry. I've arranged Yiyi's school transfer. The schools in City C are better than the ones here. We'll take care of each other.”

Su Yin held the old woman's hand and reassured her gently.

Yiyi stood beside them, supporting her grandmother.

“Don't worry, Grandma! I'm grown up now. I'll take good care of Mom.”

“Ah... you two... Why do you insist on leaving home? I can't bear it...”

The old woman's eyes were red with reluctance.

“Too much has happened here. We need a change of surroundings to start again. We'll come back and visit often.”

“Go on. Don't miss your flight. Call me when you arrive.”

Grandma let go of Su Yin's hand, turned, and quietly wiped her eyes.

Beside her, a man offered a tissue and grumbled, “Honestly, Mom. Travel's so convenient now. You can see them whenever you like. And there's video calling. How can my sister and Yiyi leave without worrying if you cry like this?”

“Brother. Look after Mom. If anything happens, tell me right away.”

Looking at her mother's back, Su Yin's eyes filled with tears too.

“Don't worry. I'll take her home. Call when you get there.”

“Grandma! Remember to thank Mr. Zhang for me!”

Yiyi called after the two departing figures.

Once they'd watched them go, Su Yin and Yiyi didn't enter the departure lounge.

They went to the airport exit and took a taxi.

Twenty minutes later, it stopped outside an alley.

Mother and daughter got out hand in hand.

Quietly, they walked inside.

“Yiyi! It's your birthday. I've made all your favorites. Come and eat!”

Yiyi put down her phone and skipped out of her room.

At the sight of a table full of dishes she loved, she cried happily, “Wow! I love you, Mom!”

Hearing her daughter, Su Yin's face filled with a happy smile.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang.

Yiyi ran to answer it.

A man stood outside, carrying a birthday cake.

“Happy birthday to Daddy's precious girl!”

He was tall and broad, with dark skin and a square face.

He plainly had the look of a fierce man.

But when he looked at Yiyi, his eyes were infinitely gentle.

“Thank you, Dad! I love you!”

She took the cake and called sweetly, “Dad!”

Then she threw her arms around him.

The three of them.

Yiyi.

Su Yin.

And the man.

They sat around the table, eating, laughing, and talking happily.

Sunset shone through the dining-room window, lighting the happy smiles on their faces.

In a hidden corner of the house, three dolls lay side by side.

One was hideously ugly.

A nail still pierced its forehead.

The other two were a middle-aged woman and a girl in the first bloom of youth.

The three dolls lay quietly together in the corner.

Faintly...

There still seemed to be a sound.

Soft, broken sobs.

— The End —