Thump… thump. The sound of metal cleats striking stone tiles echoed through the corridor.
Before Feng Yushu could celebrate finding her daughter, she spotted a young man in a checkered shirt and work pants bounding toward her. Sturdy mountaineering boots embedded with steel spikes on the soles pounded the marble floor in rhythmic leaps.
This was no ordinary walk. He hopped forward like the classic zombies in Hong Kong horror films: legs straight and together, each jump bringing him closer, across the hallway, toward Feng Yushu.
What might seem comical was utterly horrifying to her.
Because she had just passed this worker's frozen corpse.
Moments earlier, she and Ning Zhe had crept past dozens of bodies in the great hall—each victim caught in the final instant before death, faces etched with confusion, fear, or vacant shock. One electrician had been inspecting a transformer box, intent and unknowing, until his expression froze into the plaster-like mask of his corpse.
Thump—
The workman leapt another step. His arms hung straight at his sides, torso rigid like a javelin thrust into the ground. His face remained locked in that earnest pre-death focus.
Thump… thump—
Two more leaps closed the distance. Now he stood only two rooms away from Feng Yushu.
Crystal chandeliers scattered dancing light across the floor; his long shadow stretched toward her. Cold dread filled her chest, nerves taut as bowstrings.
She did not flee—for Ning Zhe and her daughter waited up the stairs.
"Ning Zhe, the ghost… it's coming upstairs," she whispered, voice trembling with suppressed terror.
Almost instantly, a soft girl's voice answered from the darkened room behind the closed door—it was Bai Zhi:
"Quick—turn off the lights."
"A Zhi?" Feng Yushu paused, then complied. She rummaged for her iPad Mini, heaved it upward, and smashed a chandelier. Crystal shards tinkled as the lamp went dark.
One light down, dozens remained illuminated. The castle gleamed everywhere except outside this one room.
Thump—
The workman landed another bound, halted in place, as if inspecting the floor. Or perhaps the floor below—in the grand hall.
Then he collapsed.
His body went limp, face down, a bright red spray of blood blossoming under his head. Limbs splayed at odd angles, he joined the others.
"He's gone," Ning Zhe said softly. "He didn't find you in the dark—he's chasing the person who made noise downstairs."
Feng Yushu exhaled shakily, legs trembling. "Ning Zhe… you saved me again…"
"It was your daughter who saved you," Ning Zhe replied lightly. "Let's open the door."
With "dark = safe" confirmed, Ning Zhe and Bai Zhi worked together. After a moment, they pried free the door's jammed lock and swung it open.
Feng Yushu rushed in, swept the pale, shivering Bai Zhi into her arms, tears in her voice: "Thank God—you're alive…"
Bai Zhi did not resist the embrace but brushed stray hair behind her ear. Her pale, drawn face turned to Ning Zhe. "Who are you?"
"I'm Ning Zhe."
Bai Zhi shook her head. "I know your name. I mean—who are you? How do you know about ghosts? What's your relationship with my mother?"
Ning Zhe shrugged. "You could say I walked through your dreams with your mother."
"Eh?" Bai Zhi blinked in surprise.
"In here," Ning Zhe said, stepping past them. "Talk inside; it's dark."
They closed the door behind them. Feng Yushu recounted her unwitting entry into He Village and their escape with Ning Zhe's help. Bai Zhi listened in the darkness, breathing growing heavier as the story unfolded.
"So…" Bai Zhi's voice trembled. "That actually happened?"
"It did. Now my question." Ning Zhe did not dwell on her shock. "When the ghost first appeared, I tried to probe its killing with my life—and I died instantly. I watched from up high, ten meters away from the nearest corpse. But you, two rooms away—under ten meters—survived long enough to be stunned, hear my advice, and smash the chandelier."
His voice was calm, each word precise: "Why did the ghost not kill your mother immediately?"
Bai Zhi was silent for a moment, then answered:
"Because the ghost fears light."
Ning Zhe looked surprised. "But you said ghosts need light to kill."
Why now say the ghost fears light?
Chapters in advance there: patreon.com/Thaniel_a_goodchild