Chapter 10

Inside and outside the elevator door, the two people confronted each other quietly.

Old Li was still leaning against the wall, his face pale and his expression ferocious, as if he had not yet come to his senses.

The young man outside had his hands in his pockets and looked indifferent. He was obviously asking for money, but he seemed a little impatient.

Seeing that Lao Li hadn't left the elevator and the door was about to close again, the young man stepped forward and blocked the door with his foot, his face darkening. "What? Trying to escape?"

Old Li came back to his senses, gasping for breath, and asked in confusion, "Why are you still here so late?"

This is his ex-wife's son.

His ex-wife despised him for being poor, and when he was 40 years old she couldn't stand it anymore and divorced him. She left the house with their son, and since then, Lao Li has lived alone.

Hearing this, the young man laughed as if he had heard a joke. He stretched out his hand and twirled his index finger and thumb. "Why are you playing dumb? I've run out of money, and I don't know where my mom has run off to. You're my dad, and if you don't give me some money to spend, are you going to let me die?"

Old Li felt a lump in his heart.

His relationship with his ex-wife and son is very bad.

This story begins many years ago.

Two years after he divorced his ex-wife, he heard that his ex-wife got married, found a small boss, and was living a good life.

He felt a little sad at that time - after all, his wife left with someone, but even his son despised him for being poor just like his mother. He hadn't visited him for two years and never mentioned missing his father. After finding a new father, he followed him around and kept calling "Dad" and "Dad".

——That’s right, Lao Li was feeling depressed and was secretly following the other person and watching him.

But he has no ambition and cannot become a big boss. He just wants a stable and comfortable life. What can he do?

Everyone has their own aspirations. This phrase may not be quite right to describe him, his wife and son, but that's roughly what it means.

So after accepting the reality, Lao Li officially regarded himself as an elderly widower.

Unexpectedly, the ex-wife's good days did not last long. After five years of marriage, her new husband went bankrupt, became in debt, and committed suicide by jumping off a building.

The ex-wife fled everywhere with their son, hiding from the debt collectors. When they had no way to go, they found him again, kneeling and crying, begging him for help.

After all, they had been together through thick and thin, not to mention they had a son. Old Li softened his heart and took the mother and son in, helping them for a while.

He naively thought that perhaps their broken family could be reconstructed.

But he soon realized—

This mother and son are a bottomless pit.

Not only did they owe foreign debts, but the ex-wife had only been married to the small boss for five years and had already developed a habit of spending lavishly. She wanted the best of everything, and would lose her temper, yell, and even hit people if her wishes were not met.

As for his son, he became like a gangster. He didn't study well every day. He gambled with the money he got or flirted with girls. He even almost got a girl pregnant and was beaten to death by her parents.

Old Li thought, what are these called?

He wants a stable and comfortable life, taking a walk and playing with birds every day. He hopes to have a wife who can chat with him, take walks with him, and sleep with him every day. He hopes to have a child. He does not have high requirements for the child. As long as the child grows up healthy, has positive thoughts, and lives happily every day, that's enough.

But everything was broken!

He only has a profit-seeking, crazy ex-wife, and a gangster son who is like a debt collector!

His friends all advised him not to cherish the old relationship and to quickly break up with the mother and son, otherwise he would suffer in the future!

Old Li struggled for a while, then recalled how the mother and son had ignored him over the past few years. He finally came to his senses and found an opportunity to talk it over with them, and kicked them out of the house.

However, once you are possessed by a ghost, how can you get rid of it so easily?

Over the past few years, Lao Li has tried to chase them away with a broom, called the police, and moved, but he has never been able to escape the clutches of the mother and son.

He could never find any trace of the mother and son, and whenever they were short of money, they would come to his door and disturb his peace!

It was almost ten o'clock at this moment, and the neighbor lived next door. Lao Li didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but he really didn't want to pay.

He has always adhered to this principle – if he wants to pay people off just to prevent trouble, then isn't he just going back to his old ways?!

Lao Li took a deep breath and said in a low voice: "I don't have any money!"

His son Li Yelin also knew that he would hear this sentence. He curled his lips and smiled very gloomily: "No money? If you have no money, sell your mobile phone or your house. Who are you trying to fool if you have no money?!" He shouted the last sentence.

Old Li shuddered slightly, his anger rising. He widened his eyes and said, "Don't give me that. I said I have no money, and I don't have a son like you. Don't come to collect debts from me. If you do this again, I will call the police!"

In the past, when Lao Li threatened like this, he was able to force the kid to leave three times out of five times - but those times were usually when the kid was not so short of money. If he was really short of money, he would become very difficult to deal with.

Unfortunately, today is obviously the latter situation, even worse than the latter!

Old Li was caught off guard and was suddenly pulled out of the elevator by Li Yelin. He couldn't stand firmly and fell to his knees with a "bang". His knees immediately hurt!

He was not in good health. A year ago, he was hit by an electric scooter and his left leg was fractured. He had some injuries since then. Although there was nothing unusual when he walked, when his knees hit the concrete floor, it hurt so much that he could hardly hear anything!

Of course Li Yelin knew that he had been in trouble before, but if he cared about Lao Li's health, could he still become a debt collector?

Regardless of the pale face of Lao Li, who was curled up in pain, he grabbed Lao Li's collar and said with red eyes, "Don't talk nonsense to me, take out the money, otherwise you will not be able to finish your day today!"

Old Li was gasping for breath and felt dizzy!

There’s something wrong with this kid, Old Li thought.

He must have gone gambling again! He must have incurred new debts, and that's why he was so anxious!

Li Yelin lost his patience. He shook Old Li's collar vigorously and threatened, "Give it to me or not? If you keep dragging it out, I'll beat you up, regardless of the fact that you're my father."

Old Li said angrily, "Do you think I'm your father?! How do you treat me like this?!"

"Fuck, you're still trying to show me your attitude?" Li Yelin's face turned ferocious, like a real devil. He said grimly, "It seems like you really want to get beaten up, don't you think about how many punches your old bones can withstand? You don't want to stay in the hospital for ten days or half a month, huh?"

Old Li was so angry that veins popped out on his forehead and his voice broke: "You beast! You beast!"

The light from the ceiling of the elevator flashed across Lao Li's eyes.

Old Li gasped for breath, his head swollen, his mind full of thoughts -

Why did I give birth to such a beast?

How could I have given birth to such a beast?!

His heart beat heavier and heavier, and Lao Li was trembling all over. He felt anger, sadness, and despair all surging into his heart.

Suddenly, with a "gurgling" sound, the thing under his belly moved again.

Li Yelin didn't feel anything when being scolded by Old Li. He was just a broken jar and even wanted to laugh.

"Are you sick? If you don't accept my toast, you'll have to drink for it." He spat, his eyes became fierce, and he raised his fist to hit him!

However, at the moment when his fist was about to strike down, the light on the top of the elevator flickered and went out.

Li Yelin was startled and stopped his fist halfway, then he raised his head!

As soon as the lights went out, the elevator became pitch black.

Apart from the faint green light emitted by the escape light at the corner of the stairwell behind Li Yelin, there was no other light, which was very strange.

Li Yelin is a brave man, and he is indeed brave enough to pick up weapons and join a group fight at any time.

You could say he's timid, but he's so timid that he's even afraid of the dark.

The sudden light outage caught him off guard. He was forced to slow down, cursed "fuck" under his breath, loosened Lao Li's collar and tried to touch the light switch on the wall.

Old Li fell to the ground, coughed twice, curled up and tried to get up.

It was pitch black on Li Yelin's end, and he couldn't see anything clearly. He fumbled for the switch but couldn't find it. He angrily cursed again, "Fuck! What a piece of crap!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly felt a cold breath brushing against the back of his neck.

Li Yelin almost jumped up. He instinctively covered the back of his neck and turned around, wanting to curse whoever was blowing cold air at his neck!

But halfway through turning around, he froze there.

...Yeah, who, who can be behind him and blow air conditioning at him?

As soon as this thought came to my mind, goosebumps appeared all over my body.

He heard Lao Li gasping for breath, which was about one meter away from him, at his side.

Li Yelin's heart began to beat wildly and cold sweat broke out on his hands and feet.

I seemed to have a premonition in my heart.

There are some things that you know you shouldn’t look at, but you still can’t help it.

Human beings seem to be like this, always afraid of unknown and strange things, yet curious, and instinctively rushing towards the abyss.

Li Yelin couldn't help it either, and he turned around little by little, stiffly and like a puppet, and turned his gaze away.

In the darkness, the faint white walls, the granite surrounding the elevator, the elevator door, and then the shoe cabinet outside the door of the neighbor across the street, Old Li, sitting on the ground close to the shoe cabinet, looking up with his head and eyes wide open in fear at something, and -

And standing quietly between him and Lao Li was a dark, extremely tall and long shadow.

Li Yelin raised his head and was stunned.

The shadow reached the ceiling, thin and slim, like a giant, with his head lowered and his long hair covering his face.

"She" just stood there quietly. The dim green light of the escape passage was completely blocked by "her", and could only shine in from both sides with difficulty, providing a little light for this small space.

In a moment of silence, the air seemed to become a bowl of motionless black ink.

He and Lao Li were both stunned.

Then, Li Yelin began to tremble.

His hands and feet were shaking, his whole body was shaking, his teeth were clenched, his eyes were wide open, and his eyes were red with anger.

——

What's this……

Where did this thing come from...

How did this thing suddenly appear!?

The wind blew in from the window at the corner of the stairwell, making a whistling sound like the whimpering of an animal.

The dark shadow standing between the two of them suddenly moved.

Both of them were frightened and shook, their minds went blank.

In their field of vision, the black shadow slowly turned around, as if looking down at Lao Li, and then -

She tilted her head and took a step closer to him.

Old Li was so scared that he kicked his legs and stepped back, shrinking even tighter, shaking all over, with his mouth wide open, but no sound came out of his throat.

Li Yelin was so frightened that he pressed himself against the wall, letting out a series of strange, incoherent cries: "Ahhh...Ahhhhhh!!!"

The sound seemed to attract the attention of the dark shadow, and the shadow quickly turned its head to look at him.

The light was too dim to see clearly, but Li Yelin always felt that when the black shadow lowered its head, the eyes revealed were just two small, round holes, completely white, with no pupils at all!

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Li Yelin desperately pressed the down button of the elevator behind him, "Pa pa pa pa"!

The shadow began to turn and walk towards him step by step - no, it moved!

Li Yelin didn't dare to look closely at all, but he knew without looking that the black shadow was walking in an incorrect way!

“She” was moving towards him, rising and falling, as if jumping on the moon, or as if her feet were connected to the darkness, “she” was moving towards him on the ripples of the dark pool water—

Li Yelin felt like he was going to die. He screamed and pressed the down key more than ten times before the elevator door finally opened.

Although the elevator had been stopping at their floor, the old elevator responded slowly, which was the normal speed, but Li Yelin felt as if a century had passed!

He ran in crying and crawling. The moment he turned around, the lights on the floor suddenly lit up and the light returned. However, the elevator door in front of Li Yelin had closed and the entire elevator sank.

After reaching the first floor, Li Yelin rushed out like crazy!

…

The lights were bright at the elevator door on the fourth floor.

Old Li was still sitting there, dazed.

He clearly saw that the moment the light came on, the dark shadow... like a wisp of smoke, flowed into his body.

Half a minute later, the neighbor across the street from him opened the door a little and saw him sitting on the ground. Startled, he asked cautiously, "Uncle, are you okay? Was that... your son again?"

Obviously, the person next door heard the noise just now, but didn't want to get involved, so he didn't open the door.

After all, who would want to get involved in something like this?

Old Li just twisted his neck stiffly, pulled the corners of his mouth, and said hoarsely: "It's okay, haha, it's okay..."

The neighbor looked at Lao Li's face, which was abnormally pale and bloodless.

The neighbor swallowed hard, pretending not to know, and said with a dry laugh, "I'm glad you're okay, I'm glad you're okay. It's getting late, go to bed early."

Lao Li: "...well, sorry to bother you."

After the neighbor's door was closed, Lao Li sat on the ground for a long time, his entire T-shirt soaked with sweat.

Go to bed early?

Will he be able to sleep tonight?

*

On the other side, the night snack stall officially closed at three o'clock, and the business results on the first day were very encouraging.

On the way home, Su Xuan also received a transfer from Wen Yu.

Yuyu: “[kitten peeking out.jpg]”

Su Xuan knew that this girl wanted to bribe him to give her a spirit pearl in private to taste.

Su Xuan honestly transferred the money to their small group's public account. After showing Wen Yu a screenshot, he replied, "Put it all in our piggy bank [picking nose]."

Yuyu: “…”

Yuyu: “[Dead fish eyes]”

Su Xuan hummed a song and returned to the apartment.

It seemed that Old Man Lu's waist was seriously injured, and he had actually rested quietly a long time ago. Only Lu Hui was sitting in the living room, turning down the volume and watching TV fascinatedly.

Seeing him coming back, silly boy Lu Hui said with sparkling eyes: "Brother, the TV is so good, hehehe!"

Su Xuan patted his head lovingly: "Look, look more, I'll send you to school in two days!"

Lu Hui, who didn't know where the school was yet, asked foolishly, "Is school fun?"

Su Xuan: "It's fun! Learning is the most fun!"

Lu Hui: "Then I'm going to school, hehe."

Su Xuan nodded with satisfaction and went back to his room. When he put his things down, he had a sudden thought and subconsciously ran to the balcony to take a look next door.

Just like the several times before when he peeked, it was already past three o'clock, and the light in Gu Shuo's room was still on, shining through onto the balcony and spreading all over.

Su Xuan had always found it strange. They were monsters, so they could stay up all night. How could a human like Gu Shuo also stay up all night? Was he so strong?

Su Xuan is very worried about the health of the beauty next door. Staying up late will damage the liver and kidneys.

He felt that he needed to find an opportunity to remind Gu Shuo to rest on time and take care of his health.

After thinking about it, he turned around and went to take a shower.

The next evening, Su Xuan was refreshing the recruitment notice on the recruitment website, wondering why no outstanding people had submitted their resumes yet, when Lao Li came to the door according to the address on the business card.

…

Old Li's face looked extremely ugly. One could tell at a glance that he hadn't slept all night. There were dark spots under his eyes.

Qi Hanyu was startled and asked quickly, "Grandpa, are you okay?"

"It's okay, it's okay." Old Li smiled dazedly and waved his hands.

There was no one in the company at the moment, so Su Xuan handed him the water and then looked at his expression.

Noticing his gaze, Lao Li took a deep breath and lowered his head in shame.

"I'm sorry, I treated you badly yesterday, and today I'm shamelessly asking for your help," Old Li said tremblingly, "but I really didn't believe in this kind of thing before, and it took me a whole day to come to my senses..."

Su Xuan understood that it would take some time for ordinary people to accept such supernatural things, but -

He asked sharply, "Did something happen after you returned home last night?"

When he said this, Lao Li's face showed fear.

He nodded, clutching his stomach, and asked Su Xuan and the others with wide eyes, "Little...Masters!"

"Little Master" Qi Hanyu and Su Xuan twitched their lips.

Old Li asked tremblingly, "No, is there a ghost living in my stomach?!"