Ning Qiu Shui's fingers closed around an object in the gloom—a book. Its cover was gritty with dust, yet beneath the grime, faint fingerprints seemed etched in desperation.
He opened it. Under the sickly moonlight filtering through the barred window, they began to read:
June 1, 2037 - Overcast
...Grandpa called. Grandma's dying. He begged Mom to come home.
But Mom refused. Flatly. She loves Grandma. Why?
June 9, 2037 - Overcast
Mom didn't go to work today.
She's terrified. Of what?
June 12, 2037 - Overcast
Mom cries when she thinks I'm asleep. I asked why. She didn't answer. Just held me.
So tight… I couldn't breathe.
June 21, 2037 - Light Rain
Grandma died. Grandpa called. Mom went white when she hung up.
She left suddenly. Came back late. Gave me a crimson stone.
"Hang this in your window. Never take it down. No matter what."
June 22, 2037 - Storm
Mom and Dad packed suitcases. Left. Only me and Nanny Wang now.
Their last words: "If you see us come back… DON'T OPEN THE DOOR."
July 12, 2037 - Storm
Mom's back.
I remembered their warning… but I opened the door anyway.
I… missed her too much.
August 1, 2037 - Storm
Something's wrong.
It's… not Mom.
August 15, 2037 - Storm
I didn't listen. I let it in.
It's out there now. Beyond my door.
Thirsty. So hungry. But I can't leave…
Am I going to die?
What do I do?
The entries stopped.
Silence hung thick and heavy. The diary's childish scrawl screamed of a horror neither man could voice.
"So… the old woman downstairs," Liu Chengfeng rasped, throat dry. "She wasn't the mistress's mother. She was… the nanny."
"Nanny Wang," Ning Qiu Shui confirmed, closing the diary. "And the monster…" He turned, eyes sharp. "Remember the shoe cabinet by the entrance? Packed with brand-new women's shoes. A woman who loves shoes that much… would she really go on a 'trip' without taking any?"
Liu Chengfeng froze. They'd passed that cabinet a dozen times. Only Ning Qiu Shui had seen it. His observation skills were terrifying.
"And that phrase the old woman kept repeating," Ning Qiu Shui pressed, voice dropping to a whisper. "You wanted to know what it was."
Liu Chengfeng's eyes locked onto his. "What… was she saying?"
Under the corpse-pale moonlight, Ning Qiu Shui delivered the truth like a blade:
"She wasn't saying 'the meat isn't cooked.'"
"She was saying… 'They never left.'"
Liu Chengfeng's breath hitched. "Brother… you mean… the woman in the red dress we saw that first day… she never left the villa?!"
Ning Qiu Shui nodded slowly. "No. She didn't leave. She just… found somewhere nearby. To eat the girl."
Thud. Liu Chengfeng's legs buckled. He barely caught himself against the wall. "Holy shit…" Numbness spread through his limbs like ice.
Ning Qiu Shui touched the crimson stone hanging in the window. Whatever it was, whatever power it held… it didn't matter now. Only one thing did:
This stone kept the thing pretending to be the mistress… out.
Suddenly, Ning Qiu Shui snapped into action. "Big Beard! Now!"
Liu Chengfeng jolted. "W-what?"
"Split up. You go downstairs—raid the kitchen. Grab all the ready-to-eat food you can carry. Prioritize calorie-dense stuff!"
Liu Chengfeng blinked. "And… what about you?"
Ning Qiu Shui didn't hesitate. "I'm getting the old woman from the second floor!"
Liu Chengfeng understood instantly. "But what if we run into that… thing?"
"We have to risk it!" Ning Qiu Shui's voice was steel. "We're running out of people, and tonight is our only shot. The Blood Gate opens after dark. Tomorrow? Impossible." He met Liu Chengfeng's wide eyes. "It's now or never."
Liu Chengfeng gritted his teeth. No turning back. Ning Qiu Shui's instincts had kept him alive this long. "Go!"
They slipped from the study. The hallway was empty. Liu Chengfeng bolted for the kitchen downstairs, moving by memory in the pitch black. He snatched sacks, stuffing them blindly with bread, dried meat, anything edible. His hands shook. The darkness felt alive—a predator's gaze prickling his neck from unseen corners. Faster. Faster. Sweat stung his eyes. Three sacks, bulging. He hauled them upstairs.
Ning Qiu Shui was already on the second-floor landing, the old woman a dead weight on his back. She was heavy—over 170 pounds—but he moved with grim determination. "Up! Now!" he ordered, seeing Liu Chengfeng hesitate.
Liu Chengfeng scrambled towards the third floor. Ning Qiu Shui followed, slower now, fighting for purchase on the vile, sludge-slicked floor. One misstep, and the fragile woman would shatter. Almost there…
Liu Chengfeng reached the study doorway, leaning out, scanning the corridor towards Ning Qiu Shui. His eyes widened in raw terror.
"BROTHER! HURRY!"
He screamed, pointing past Ning Qiu Shui. "IT'S COMING!"
Screeeeeech—
Screeeeeech—
The nightmare sound ripped through the hallway again, closer than ever.
Ice flooded Ning Qiu Shui's veins. He abandoned caution, surging forward, legs burning, the old woman bouncing against his spine. Faster! FASTER! Five steps from the study door. Four. Three. The air behind him turned piercingly cold, a killing frost seeping into his bones. He didn't dare look back.
Two steps.
A hand—long, bone-white, and freezing—shot from the darkness and clamped around his throat.
"Where… do you think… you're going?" A woman's voice, thick with malice and decay, hissed directly into his ear.
Strength fled his limbs. He was too slow. Done.
A blur erupted from the study doorway. Liu Chengfeng lunged, bellowing, and slammed his palm onto the skeletal wrist gripping Ning Qiu Shui.
HISSSSSSSSS!
White, searing smoke erupted from the contact. The creature shrieked—a sound of pure, scalding agony—and recoiled. Liu Chengfeng seized Ning Qiu Shui's arm, yanking him and the old woman bodily into the study. He spun, scrambled to the window, and slapped the crimson stone back into place.
Liu Chengfeng collapsed, trembling violently, gasping like a landed fish. "Holy… fucking… hell…"
Outside, the thing in the red dress howled, a symphony of rage and thwarted hunger. She writhed against the doorframe, her true form finally visible in the moonlight:
Her jaw was a nightmare—unhinged, stretching to her ears, lined with row upon row of needle-sharp teeth. Traces of hair and gore clung between them. Cracks, like dried mud or rotting flesh, spiderwebbed around her eyes. Her limbs were grotesquely elongated, allowing her to perch spider-like high on the wall. In one clawed hand, she gripped the blood-crusted knife and fork.
"What… what is that fucking thing?!" Liu Chengfeng choked out, his blood running cold.
The creature raged. She clawed at the doorframe, her furious shrieks shaking the dust from the ceiling. But the crimson stone in the window pulsed faintly. She couldn't cross the threshold. With a final, guttural snarl that promised retribution, she uncoiled her limbs and vanished back into the shadows of the third floor.