It was already getting dark, so it was about time to start preparing for our stay here at the mansion for the night. Xiaotao ordered the officers guarding the mansion to get us some food and drinks along with three sleeping bags. Then they could get off work for the day.

The mansion was completely isolated—there were no other buildings around it. Once the sun sank below the horizon, darkness descended on the area like a thick, heavy fog. It was a moonless night. Once every few minutes or so, the headlights of a car would flash across the road.

Once the police officers returned with our provisions for the night, we brought them up to the room where the dead bodies were found and laid out our sleeping bags there.

“Dude,” whined Dali with both of his hands hugging his shoulders, “are you sure we have to stay here the whole night?”

“How many times are you going to ask that question, idiot?” snapped Xiaotao. “I’m hungry! Let’s eat!”

She then proceeded to tear open the paper box containing the noodles, stirred it with a pair of chopsticks and tucked in. I took a bite off of a bun myself. Dali looked on and marveled, “How can you guys eat with such fervor as if two dead people weren’t found right here a few days ago?!”

We both shrugged.

The evening passed on quite uneventfully. In fact, we were even getting slightly bored as there was nothing to do in particular. We didn’t dare to play with our phones as we were worried the battery might run out on us—we’d have no way to contact the outside world then. Xiaotao was quite accustomed to this situation though because she was used to staying in the car for a few days continuously when she was on stakeouts.

When it was pretty late into the night, Dali suddenly said he needed to go to the toilet and insisted that I accompany him.

“Are you still a man?” Xiaotao laughed and jeered. “It’s right next to the room! Just go out the door and turn left.”

“Then… Then I’ll scream my lungs out so you’ll hear me if something happens!”

Once Dali left, I took out a mug from my backpack and handed it to Xiaotao.

“Here you go. To replace your favorite mug.”

Xiaotao smiled and shook her head, “Seriously! Can’t you just say that it’s a gift? But since you’re being so thoughtful, I’ll let it slide this time.”

She twisted open a bottle of cold green tea and poured it into the mug I just gave her and took a sip. Then she offered me the mug.

“I see you haven’t had a drink with your food yet. Drink this.”

I politely declined at first but she insisted, so I took the mug from her. As I drank the tea, I could taste the faint sweetness of Xiaotao’s lipstick and that made me blush again. But our little moment was short-lived as it was interrupted by Dali’s sudden scream. We both rushed out immediately.

When we got to the bathroom, we saw Dali staring at the toilet bowl with a sickly pale face. He told us that as he was just sitting down on the toilet seat, he felt a cold hand grabbing at his bare bottom. He sprang back up on his feet and screamed.

“You really are an idiot, aren’t you?” Xiaotao snorted.

“Jeez, have a bit of sympathy!” cried Dali. “I swear there really was a hand in there!”

I stared at the toilet.

“It’s probably a rat,” I commented. “Toilets and sewers are connected. This place had been unoccupied for a long time after all. Any rat could’ve climbed out of here easily.”

“No, dude, listen to me! It was clearly a hand that grabbed my ass!”

At that moment, we all heard the sound of a ball bouncing the floor downstairs and Dali shrieked in fear again. I was much more freaked out by his sudden scream than the weird noise downstairs.

“I-It’s the boy’s ghost!” stuttered Dali through chattering teeth.

I couldn’t quite make out where the sound was coming from. Sometimes it felt as if it was very close to us, yet sometimes it sounded like it was far away. It rang through the stillness of the abandoned mansion. I turned around and saw that even Xiaotao looked very pale indeed.

“Let’s go check it out,” I suggested.

“Do we have to?” asked Dali.

“Don’t worry,” I assured him. “A ghost isn’t the scariest thing in this kind of place—it’s your imagination!”

“But what if it really is a ghost?” asked Xiaotao with raised eyebrows.

“So what if it’s a ghost?” I answered. “A ghost is nothing more than residual spiritual energy left in the physical world. It’s no different from a video or a hologram. It can do no harm to us.”

Xiaotao went into the room to take the flashlight and we then went downstairs together. Well, I said together, but really, I was walking in front while Xiaotao and Dali trailed behind me, holding onto my clothes tightly. Dali had always been a coward, but I was quite surprised to see that even Xiaotao was acting so scared. When I asked her that, she pouted and argued that only lunatics like me wouldn’t be scared in a situation like this.

I couldn’t help but think to myself how cute Xiaotao was when she’s afraid!

The old staircase creaked with every step we took. Once we got downstairs, I looked around with the living room with the flashlight. It was empty.

“See? There’s nothing—”

Before I could finish my sentence, Xiaotao jumped in fright, saying something just touched her foot. We looked down and saw a ball.

She picked it up and cried, “But how could there be a ball here? We scoured the whole house the other day and it wasn’t here!”

“Th-Then it must be… ghosts!” Dali started to panic.

“Stop making this place scarier than it actually is!” I spat.

Just then, a door upstairs banged very loudly, followed by the sound of a woman laughing. Both Xiaotao and Dali screamed and jumped in fright as if they’d just stepped on a live electrical wire.

“Someone’s playing a trick on us!” I snapped angrily. “I’ll go upstairs and find out who they are!”

I rushed upstairs and found that a door that was originally closed was open. I walked into the room and shone the flashlight all around it. I heard a sound above my head—it sounded like something was climbing down from the ceiling. Then a voice whispered in my ear, “He killed my son! He deserved to die! He killed… my son!”

It sounded like someone was whispering right next to my ear, but I couldn’t feel any breath at all. That gave me chills all over my body.

Earlier that day, I had asked Dali to bring me a bag of salt. It could be used to exorcise evil spirits. I was about to turn around and go grab the salt, but I felt a hand pressing on my shoulder, and out of the corner of my eye I could almost see a ghastly face slowly inching towards me!

I froze and didn’t dare to look back. I knew that ghosts liked to creep up on people from behind. If I turned back now, all of my courage would leave me. So, I yelled out, “You’re already dead. There’s no point in lingering in the world of the living. It’s time for you to pass on to the next world!”

The hand on my shoulder loosened its grip, then gradually disappeared. Evil spirits were known to prey upon weak-willed people. As long as you’re not afraid of them, they wouldn’t dare to approach you again!

At that moment, my phone rang. I knew it was Xiaotao because I had set a special ringtone just for her number. I instantly questioned why she had to call me when she was just downstairs. Did something happen to her?

Immediately after the phone rang, I heard the sound of a ball bouncing on the floor again. Did that little ghost reappear?

I almost flew downstairs in haste, only to see Dali bouncing a ball.

“You idiot!” I shouted. “What’s wrong with you? This isn’t the time to be playing with the ball!”

“One two, buckle my shoe, three four, close the door…” Dali completely ignored me and went on bouncing the ball while singing the rhyme. I was taken aback by this reaction. What had gotten into him?

He had a strange expression on his face. He was pouting and was on the verge of tears, but his eyes seemed to try to point me towards a certain direction.

“Song Yang! Song Yang!” A soft voice was calling me. I turned around. It was Xiaotao who was shivering and cowering behind a pillar.

I was about to approach her, but Dali suddenly grabbed my sleeve and shook his head frantically. I looked back at Xiaotao. What was Dali trying to tell me? Was that not the real Xiaotao but a ghost impersonating her? No, I couldn’t believe that ghosts had such powers.

In an urgent voice, Xiaotao warned me, “He’s not Wang Dali right now. Stay away from him!”

I shook off Dali’s hand. He went back to bouncing the ball but I could see that he was almost bursting into tears. He then whispered to me, “There’s a woman behind Xiaotao-jiejie. Can’t you see?”

Once he told me that, I could really see a faint figure of a woman wearing a white flowing dress behind Xiaotao. Her long hair was wild and unruly and her cheeks were covered with caked bloodstains. She was holding a bloody dagger against Xiaotao’s neck, but Xiaotao herself was unaware of it.

It all became clear to me now—the ghost was holding Xiaotao as hostage to force Dali to act as her son!

“I raise cup of wine to the heavens!” I began to chant. “In the name of the celestial gods, begone evil spirit! In the name of Magistrate Song, let the light of his wisdom illuminate the darkness and wash away injustices!”

Xiaotao and Dali were visibly shocked. They must’ve thought that I was possessed by a ghost! I marched up towards Xiaotao, pointed at the ghost, and yelled, “I am a descendant of the Song family! Evil spirit begone!”

“Aaaahhh!”

The ghost screamed and disappeared like a puff of smoke.