“Hiss… so cold…”
On a summer afternoon, Yang Siguang got off the Li family’s car and, dragging his backpack, walked dejectedly toward his home.
However, as he stepped into the entrance of his apartment building, he suddenly shivered.
Despite the hot weather, the hallway felt unusually cold, and the chill seemed to penetrate his skin, drilling straight into his bones.
Did he catch a cold?
Yang Siguang couldn’t help but reach up to touch his forehead, and it did feel slightly warm to the touch.
Maybe it was the cold in the funeral home’s break room, he thought, then struggled to move his heavy legs and walked, feeling lightheaded, to his door.
However, as soon as he opened the door, a pitch-black shadow suddenly darted out in front of him, and the next moment, a harsh barking sound pierced through his eardrums.
“Woof woof woof woof—”
“Woof woof woof—”
___
Yang Siguang was startled.
He grabbed the doorknob and quickly stepped back. When he looked again, he realized that a medium-sized black dog was standing in front of his entryway, though he had no idea when it had appeared.
The dog was barking incessantly at him, its excessive excitement causing its eyes to bulge slightly, and half-transparent drool hung from its sharp, white teeth, dripping down in sticky strands.
However, the moment the dog made eye contact with Yang Siguang, it suddenly closed its mouth.
A series of terrified whimpers escaped its throat, its tail tucked tightly between its hind legs, and then a foul odor mixed with the sound of water splashing as the dog urinated right there on the spot.
“What the hell…”
Still shaken, Yang Siguang stared at the unfamiliar little dog in the familiar entryway, completely confused.
After a moment, he heard slow footsteps from the living room. His mother, wearing slippers and looking irritated, came out. She glanced at Yang Siguang by the door and then at the dog, which had wet itself but still dared not move. Her brows immediately furrowed.
Yang Siguang inexplicably got scolded and was finally allowed to enter the house.
Amidst his mother’s yelling, he learned that this strange black dog had been brought home suddenly by Ding Xiaolong.
Of course, his mother didn’t like the unexpected addition of a dog to the house. However, Ding Xiaolong always had a strong influence over her. As long as he threw a tantrum or acted shamelessly, his mother would quickly give in. But she was still angry deep down, and Yang Siguang had just happened to walk into the line of fire.
Yang Siguang had grown somewhat accustomed to this treatment, but today, he wasn’t feeling well, and his mother’s sharp scolding felt particularly jarring. It even made his forehead throb with pain.
“Every day I see you doing nothing but wandering around aimlessly. Haven’t you brought any money home? What’s with that dead expression on your face? Who are you showing that to? Always acting tough at home, and now you’ve scared this poor dog like this…”
Yang Siguang changed his shoes and was about to head to his room when his mother grabbed him and continued scolding.
A wave of frustration rose within him.
Just then, he suddenly felt a disturbing, probing gaze. Yang Siguang abruptly looked up and met a pair of terrified eyes.
It was Ding Xiaolong.
The boy, who should have been at school, was now huddled in the corner of the house, holding the smelly black dog tightly in his arms.
He seemed to be caught off guard by the sudden eye contact, his face instantly turning pale, his shoulders trembling.
Then, almost instinctively, he shook and pushed the trembling dog in front of him.
Yang Siguang: “…”
Usually, Ding Xiaolong was annoying and foolish, but now, this person, trembling with fear, was even more irritating to him.
When his mother finally stopped scolding and went to her room, Yang Siguang, for once, didn’t bother with his usual attitude. Instead, he walked over to Ding Xiaolong with a dark expression.
“What’s the meaning of this?”
Yang Siguang stared coldly into Ding Xiaolong’s eyes and asked.
Ding Xiaolong trembled again.
“Huh?”
The boy swallowed nervously.
“What… what do you mean?”
His acting was poor, and even his confusion seemed fake and laughable.
Yang Siguang took a deep breath, forcing himself to squat down.
As he did, the black dog suddenly let out a shrill, agonized cry, scratching the floor with its paws as if trying to escape, but most of its body was tightly held by Ding Xiaolong.
Ding Xiaolong was clinging to the dog like a drowning person holding onto the last piece of driftwood, leaving no chance for the dog to run away.
Yang Siguang’s suspicions grew stronger.
“…You’re afraid of me.”
Yang Siguang murmured as he looked at Ding Xiaolong.
Before the pale-faced fool could come up with another excuse, Yang Siguang continued, asking on his own.
“Why are you afraid of me?” he asked. “…What did you see in my room?”
Ding Xiaolong looked like he was about to cry.
“Ghost… there’s a ghost in your room…”
If time could rewind, Ding Xiaolong would never have entered Yang Siguang’s room.
In fact, he hadn’t planned to do anything else; he just wanted to see if there was an opportunity to sneak something from the room and sell it to get some money for internet time at an internet café.
This semester, Ding Xiaolong’s grades were so bad that his pocket money had been nearly cut off, and even his mother wasn’t as easy to persuade as usual.
He was desperate and had resorted to stealing…
But he never expected that in Yang Siguang’s room, he would encounter a ghost.
“When I got home, I saw your door was open, and it seemed like someone was muttering inside… I thought it was… well, I thought it was your friend, so I got curious and went to take a look.”
“But when I got to the door, I realized no one was inside. I… I went in to have a look. I was just… just checking your bookshelf. I hadn’t even touched anything when I suddenly felt like someone was watching me,” Ding Xiaolong said, holding the dog. His breath was shallow, and he looked utterly terrified. “I thought it was you coming back, so I was about to leave. But then, the curtains in your room blew open…”
Cold sweat dripped from Ding Xiaolong’s forehead.
At this age, boys are usually fearless, and even if they encounter something supernatural, after the initial panic, they often laugh it off or use it as a bragging point among friends.
But Ding Xiaolong’s reaction was completely different. He seemed genuinely terrified.
“There was a face.”
Ding Xiaolong spoke incoherently, his voice lowered so much that it seemed as if someone was still eavesdropping beside him.
“I saw it at that time. There was a face… that face was pressed right against your window from the outside, its eyes wide open, its features all distorted. When it saw that I noticed it, it even glared at me.”
“At first, I thought it might be someone outside just meddling, but then I remembered… our home is on the fourth floor…”
So, how did that face end up pressed against the window?
