"Mom! You've misunderstood!"

Li Xiulan's face turned red with anxiety: "This is our new neighbor, an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor! He was just taking Dad's pulse, and I came over to ask what's wrong!"

"Traditional Chinese medicine? I think you're just a quack!"

The old woman stood with her hands on her hips, her voice growing louder and louder, attracting the attention of the residents taking a walk nearby.

"At your age, you still want to take advantage of young girls? Have you no shame!"

Little girl!?

My lips twitched. Although I looked older than Li Xiulan, she wasn't exactly a young girl.

They're already in their thirties, okay?

Hurried footsteps came from the direction of the pavilion, and Li Xiulan's father-in-law jogged over.

"Honey, it's a misunderstanding! This doctor's pulse diagnosis is very accurate!"

The old men who had previously consulted me echoed, "That's right, that's right, you even knew about my chronic back pain!"

The old woman looked me up and down suspiciously, muttering, "Hmph, that's easy for her to say!"

"If you don't believe me, shall I take your pulse?"

I smiled and reached out my hand.

This is exactly what I wanted.

I want to see if she's a human or a ghost.

The moment my fingertips touched her wrist, a chill crept up my spine through my veins.

Like her husband, there was no pulse under her skin, and it felt like touching a cold stone slab.

I asked casually, "Have you been feeling cold all over lately, and haven't been sleeping well at night?"

The old woman's eyes widened suddenly: "You... how did you know?"

"This is due to cold and dampness entering the body, causing poor blood circulation."

I told her to write down the prescription herself.

"Soak your feet in mugwort water, and then decoct these herbs together for oral administration."

Seeing this, several middle-aged women around me also gathered around and asked me to examine them.

I showed it to a few older women, so I made an excuse to leave.

This time I didn't dare to go around to Unit 2 again.

These middle-aged women talk faster than a radio; who knows, tomorrow the whole neighborhood might be buzzing with the news that "the new doctor is an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor."

I winked at Li Xiulan, then hurriedly left the residential area and found a private room at "Old Local Noodle Shop" diagonally across the street.

Two hours later, the door to the private room was pushed open, and Li Xiulan rushed in, reeking of cooking oil and with flour stuck to her forehead.

"My mother-in-law... does she have a pulse?"

I sighed, looking into her bloodshot eyes, and said, "No, just like your father-in-law."

Li Xiulan slumped into a chair, covering her face with her hands, her suppressed sobs echoing in the private room.

I looked at her trembling shoulders, and cold sweat seeped from my back.

If the elderly couple are both dead, then Huwa and her husband...

How many members of this family are still alive?

I didn't ask until Li Xiulan calmed down.

Are your husband and children home right now?

Li Xiulan nodded, sobbing, "My husband and Huwa are both here, but I... I just heard them... no, I heard them before."

Seeing that she was getting agitated, I told her to speak slowly and not to rush, assuring her that she was safe here.

If her husband and children really die like her in-laws, no amount of emotional outburst will help.

Now calm down and tell the whole story, from beginning to end. If there's still hope, that would be the best outcome.

But if her agitation delays treatment, that would be troublesome.

Li Xiulan wiped away her tears haphazardly and pinched her thigh hard; the intense pain calmed her down considerably.

"Master, it's just... I feel like they've all been eaten up by the cabinet, or rather, the cabinet has replaced them."

Li Xiulan said, trembling.

I raised an eyebrow and asked her what she meant.

"That day..."

Li Xiulan took a deep breath and continued, "That night I got up to go to the bathroom. When I passed by Huwa's room, I heard voices inside. I thought it was his father comforting him, so I didn't pay attention."

"But when asked the next day, they both said they slept soundly and didn't get out of bed at all."

Her nails dug deep into her palms, her knuckles turning white: "Later, I became more cautious and secretly listened in the middle of the night. I heard 'Not enough, find a few more' and 'Eat that newcomer too.' The voices were high-pitched and thin, and they weren't my husband's or Huwa's voices at all."

"I was trembling with fear. I wanted to push the door open, but I was afraid..."

She suddenly started coughing violently, as if she were coughing up her lungs.

“One day, I used the excuse of cleaning the house to secretly rummage through Huwa’s schoolbag and found a drawing inside. In the drawing, there was a cabinet with its gaping maw, swallowing our whole family. Next to it was written crookedly, ‘Save me.’”

"The scariest thing was the night before last. I was thirsty in the middle of the night and went to the kitchen to get some water. When I passed by the living room, I saw the three of them sitting on the sofa, staring at the TV with blank expressions."

"But the TV wasn't even on, yet they were talking and laughing in front of the black screen, as if they were chatting with something they couldn't see."

"I shouted, and they all suddenly turned to look at me. Their eyes were so empty and frightening that I turned and ran away. I stayed in my room all night and didn't dare to sleep."

Li Xiulan's body trembled violently, and her voice grew softer and softer.

“I thought I had a mental problem, but ever since that cabinet came into the house, they have become more and more unfamiliar to me.”

"Thinking about it now, maybe they were already..."

She dared not say anything more, only looking at me with terrified eyes, tears welling up in her eyes once again.

"What's even scarier is yet to come."

Li Xiulan suddenly lowered her voice, and the veins on her neck bulged.

“Yesterday I pretended to be asleep and heard the sound of furniture being dragged in the living room.”

"I squinted and peeked, and saw my husband dragging Huwa like a dead dog toward the cabinet. He couldn't make a sound. I wanted to rush in, but my legs wouldn't move at all."

“I was so scared I didn’t dare to breathe! What’s even more terrifying is that my mother-in-law was standing next to me, bowing and scraping in front of the cabinet, muttering, ‘We’ll have four soon.’”

"You know what's the strangest thing? My father-in-law was clearly in the gazebo, but the moment the cabinet door opened, I saw his face in the mirror, and he was smiling at me from inside the cabinet!"

"Then this morning, I found that Tiger Cub's wrist was injured. I asked him how he got it, and he suddenly smiled at me and said, 'Mom, you won't have to wait for me soon.' That smile... it's not my son's expression at all!"

I stared at the flickering reflection of fear in her pupils, and a chill ran through me.

This is no ordinary evil spirit at work; it is clearly a meticulously planned "human substitution."

The cabinet needs to have "four" pieces.

Li Xiulan's father-in-law, mother-in-law, husband, and son—isn't that exactly four people?

But there's one thing I don't understand.

Which of her husband and son is the one who didn't die?

"I need to find a way to get into your house and take a look."

I took out the compass from my pocket, and the pointer was spinning counterclockwise in a strange way: "Just say that you are treating Huwa's health and checking the old man's medicine. You go back first and don't give anything away."

...