A Night of Desperation

Chapter 1: The Mysterious Shadow (1)

“Yi Yi.”

“Yi Yi.”

A faint voice called out, waking the little girl from her slumber.

In the dark of the night, in a cramped square bedroom, a young girl with long black hair lay in bed, covered by a grey-white quilt that reached her shoulders, revealing the faded lace trim of her nightgown.

The girl looked to be about seven or eight years old. She had a delicate face with a slightly high nose, and two red pimples on her chin. She seemed to be at that age when she was just beginning to understand the world around her.

Upon hearing the voice, she slowly opened her eyes, sat up, and looked around.

The room was shrouded in darkness, with only a faint moonlight filtering in through the window, dimly illuminating the foot of the bed.

At the foot of the bed, there stood a dark figure.

The upper body of the figure was engulfed in darkness, its face obscured.

But the girl could feel that it was silently watching her.

“Mom?” The girl asked cautiously.

She clutched the blanket tightly, her face tense, sensing that something was wrong.

The room was eerily silent, with only her voice standing out as it echoed slightly in the stillness.

“Remember, Yi Yi, no matter what sounds you hear, you must hide in the secret altar. Don’t come out until the white stone turns black.”

The figure spoke softly.

“Don’t come out.”

After the words were spoken, it slowly turned around and silently walked toward the door.

The wooden door opened with no sound, revealing an expanse of darkness outside, which quickly swallowed the figure whole.

“Mommy!!” The girl seemed to sense something was wrong. She suddenly threw off the blanket, jumped out of bed, and tried to chase after her.

Boom!!!

A loud crash echoed, followed by a strong tremor, ringing loudly in her ears.

Hiss!!!

The girl snapped her eyes open, arching her chest as she took a deep breath.

It had all been a dream.

Her eyes were wide with terror, her pupils dilating, and her consciousness slowly began to break free from the drowsiness of the dream.

Boom!!

Another loud bang.

The entire room seemed to be shaking and trembling.

The wooden door rattled violently, with a series of crashes that sounded as if a giant beast was violently battering against it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!!

The powerful impacts seemed as though they could shatter the door.

Faint cracks began to appear on the surface of the door, slowly spreading.

The girl snapped back to reality, remembering the sounds from her dream.

“Mom.” She didn’t know why, but tears welled up in her eyes, and a deep pain rose in her chest.

But hearing the crashing sounds and recalling the words from her dream, she quickly threw off the blanket, jumped out of bed, and looked at the door.

Creak!

The wooden door was suddenly smashed open, and broken splinters flew inward, landing on the brown earthen floor.

The girl’s body stiffened, her heart racing, and her face turned pale. She quickly crouched down and crawled under the bed.

She crawled for a few steps, found a hidden black mudboard, grabbed the ring, and pulled it open with great effort.

Beneath the mudboard was a small, square space just big enough for her to curl up in.

The walls of the space were lined with white stones of varying sizes.

These stones were shaped differently, but they all shared one feature: they were etched with complex red symbols.

The girl quickly crawled inside, covered her head with the mudboard, and huddled in the darkness, shivering as she listened to the sounds outside.

Strangely, once she hid in the space, the crashing noises outside ceased completely.

It was as if everything she had heard earlier had been a hallucination.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

The only sound in the space was her own breathing.

The girl tightly pressed her hands over her mouth, fearing that any noise from her breath might give away her position.

The immense fear and tension soon wore down her small body, and exhaustion slowly began to creep in.

As time passed, the girl gradually fell into a deep sleep.

She didn’t know how long it had been.

An hour, maybe two.

“Yi Yi.” A familiar voice called out, waking the girl from her sleep.

She moved her body, as if trying to make herself more comfortable.

“Yi Yi?”

“Yi Yi, where are you? Mommy is back.”

The voice outside sounded again, faint and familiar.

The girl’s fear seemed to have eased somewhat after her nap.

Upon hearing the voice, she moved quickly, eager to get out.

But suddenly, she remembered something. Looking at the white stones embedded in the wall, she noticed that they had not turned black.

According to what her mother had said, only when the white stones turned black would it be completely safe.

The girl’s desire to go outside stopped immediately.

“Yi Yi, it’s morning. It’s safe now. You can come out.”

The voice echoed again.

“Don’t worry, with the light, those things won’t dare come in. Mommy is here. You can come out.”

The girl calculated the time. Normally, her mother would return about now.

Every time she hid in this small space, after taking a nap, she would be able to see her mother when she came out.

This time, the timing seemed right, so it should be no different.

As for the white stones on the wall, maybe they hadn’t turned black because too much time had passed. The stones were white during the day as well.

The girl thought for a moment. She looked up through the small ventilation hole in the mudboard, peeking outside.

She saw a faint white light.

It was indeed morning.

Finally, she relaxed.

“I’m coming!”

She called out.

“Mommy, I’m coming.”

She began to move, her little hands reaching up to push the mudboard above her.

Soon, she managed to push open the mudboard and struggled to lift her head out of the small space, returning to the area under the bed.

Then, she looked outside.

“!!??”

Outside.

It was still complete darkness.

Wasn’t it supposed to be daylight?

The girl’s scalp tingled.

She sensed something was terribly wrong. With clenched teeth, she quickly crouched down, trying to retreat back into the small space.

Clop.

Clop.

Suddenly, a pair of pale feet wearing her mother’s cloth shoes stopped right in front of the bed.

“Yi Yi, my dear daughter, where are you?” The soft and familiar voice sounded again.

The girl dared not make a sound. She tightly covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face as they slid down her cheeks.

But she didn’t dare move. At such a close distance, any slight movement could make a sound in the silent environment, exposing her position.

Suddenly, she remembered that her mother couldn’t possibly be unaware about the small space under the bed.

So her mother couldn’t be asking where she was.

At that moment, she realized… she had been tricked.

Clop.

Clop.

Soon, there was no response. Perhaps the girl’s response from the small space had been too quiet for the other person to hear.

The feet slowly moved away from the bed and left, heading toward another part of the house.

The steps were slow, barely making a sound. Soon, with a faint click of a door closing, the figure disappeared.

Everything returned to silence.

The girl continued to hold her breath, waiting.

She didn’t know how long it had been. When she didn’t hear any more sounds, she slowly exhaled, letting go of her tension and shrinking back.

After enduring so much, her body was weak. She could hear a faint buzzing in her ears, and her vision felt blurry.

She could no longer hold on. Leaning against the small space, she gasped for air.

When she realized the danger had passed, the girl waited a bit longer to be sure that there was no movement. Then, with great difficulty, she crawled out of the small space and slowly crept toward the exit under the bed.

Plop.

Suddenly…

Her shoulder bumped into something.

The girl froze, an unsettling feeling sweeping over her.

She slowly raised her head, looking toward the top right.

A woman in a tattered white dress with long hair sat silently on her wooden bed, her left leg hanging down, resting on the girl’s right shoulder.

The woman’s hair obscured her face, but she looked down at the girl. Through the dim moonlight, her pale lips were visible, showing signs of decay.

Whoosh!

The woman’s decayed face suddenly leaned in, growing larger.

*

*

* *

“This time, he didn’t die.”

In the darkness, a blurry voice emerged.

It seemed to be a woman’s voice.

“He is still alive, but… just injured and very weak. You know, you always go out into the forest to rescue people, but we barely have enough food here. How can you bear to feed a sick person too?” the woman said.

“No… it’s… fine, mom… tell me,” a stuttering young girl’s voice followed.

“Don’t talk about your mom, just listening to you talk tires me. Okay, I stitched up your wound. Just don’t get it wet and try not to get infected. I’m leaving now.”

The woman’s voice continued as she seemed to be packing up something.

“Thank you so much,” the stuttering girl said, laughing awkwardly.

“Stop thanking me. If it comes to it, just drag him outside and leave him there. He should be gone by morning.” The woman sighed.

“Thank you, only you help,” the stuttering girl said gratefully.

“That’s just how it is. Life is hard for everyone, and no one has the energy to care for others. You’re the only one who hasn’t thrown him back into the wild by now,” the woman responded.

Yu Hong slowly gathered strength, trying to open his eyes in the darkness.

He saw a small, dirty girl with messy black hair talking to a middle-aged woman with yellow skin.

The woman wore glasses, and her grayish-white long sleeves were stained with various smudges.

Yu Hong only remembered that he had been exhausted from work, went home, and fell asleep. But in the middle of the night, he suddenly heard some noise, then felt a pain in his forehead, and everything went black.

“This… where is this?” He tried to speak, but his throat felt like it was being sliced by a knife, and no words came out, only heavy breathing.

At the same time, he felt that his forehead was very hot, his body feverish, and his eyes were full of crusted sleep.

It must have been an infection somewhere, perhaps his throat.

“Medicine,” the girl’s voice came.

After the sound of a door closing, everything fell silent.

The dirty girl struggled to move, pulling out a black metal box from the corner of the room.

“Take the medicine. It will get better.” She walked over and handed Yu Hong the box.

With a click, she opened the lid, revealing several pieces of black charcoal, and inside, wrapped in paper, were three pale yellow capsules.

But these three pills had small mold spots on them, with blue moldy fuzz growing on them.

“These pills… they can’t be eaten,” Yu Hong said stiffly, looking at her. Now fully awake, his throat felt much better, but still painful.

“And what is this medicine? What’s wrong with me? How can you give me medicine when you don’t even know what’s wrong with me? This won’t work.”

“First, tell me who you are, where I am, and what’s going on?”

The girl seemed confused, opening her mouth but only stammering, unable to produce any sound.

Yu Hong leaned in and finally saw her clearly.

Her skin was dark, covered in yellow stains. She wore clothes from different seasons—summer, fall, winter—all layered together. Her collar was greasy and black, and she smelled strongly of sweat.

She looked like a beggar.

In fact, many beggars were probably cleaner than her.

From a distance, she looked like a moving black ragged clothes trolley.

Up close, he saw her body was deformed. One of her legs was lame, and on her right shoulder was a large tumor that was visible even through her clothes.

She was barely five feet tall, dirty, and slow-moving.

But her eyes—those eyes—were as clear as gemstones, almost without a trace of impurity.

(End of chapter)