Chapter 26: The Paperman's Visit

At first, the knocking was just a few gentle taps, but then it grew more urgent and rapid, banging on our eardrums painfully. I reckoned that if we didn't get to the door soon, it'd be smashed in.

Xu Meng dared not move; she clung to me tightly, her eyes wide with terror as she stared at the door. It seemed the paper effigy had really frightened her.

I didn't believe this. I'm flesh and blood; I can't be intimidated by a mere paper figure.

I stood up and Xu Meng followed, hiding behind me, clutching the hem of my clothes tightly.

When I reached the peephole, the knocking suddenly stopped.

I swallowed hard, feeling the atmosphere turn eerie, but I still peered through the peephole.

For some reason, the hallway light was off, everything outside was shrouded in darkness.

I couldn't tell if there was no one there or if it was just too dark to see, but I couldn't spot the man in a suit that Xu Meng had mentioned.

Just as I was about to pull back, suddenly, a lantern appeared outside the peephole, covered with a layer of skin.

The layer of skin had a certain texture to it, and it looked vaguely familiar.

Wait, this looks like... human skin! It was a human skin lantern!

"Haizi, why have you gone so pale? What did you see?" Xu Meng noticed my change in complexion. Even though she was scared, curiosity got the better of her.

I didn't dare tell her that I saw a lantern lit with human skin, and I certainly didn't want her to see it.

Holding the lantern was an old crone, with silver hair and skin like the bark of an ancient tree. Her forehead was veined with bulging blue blood vessels. Illuminated by the eerie green flame of the lantern, her face took on the air of a horror film.

"Are you the ghost crone?" I asked through the door.

"Who's the ghost crone?" inquired Xu Meng.

Xu Meng didn't know who the ghost crone was; she had left before the crone appeared that night.

"The ghost crone is the 'expert' who caused you to have the 'corpse fetus'," I explained.

This was something I should have told Xu Meng, as she had a right to know the truth. She shouldn't be left in the dark and used without understanding the situation; that would be too unfair to her.

At this moment, the old crone outside the door began to speak slowly, enunciating each word: "The master has sent me to join you for some fun, the game begins now! Heh heh heh..."

The old woman's sinister laugh echoed, her mouth, devoid of any teeth, seemed particularly grotesque.

Master? So she's not the ghost crone? Could she be another paper figure? And what was this game she mentioned?

At that moment, the crone did something utterly horrific. She suddenly reached towards her eyes and gouged viciously.

She actually scooped out her eyeballs, blood splattering onto the door.

"Heh heh heh..."

The old crone continued to laugh chillingly, then stuffed her eyeball into the peephole, obscuring any view of the outside with a single, bloody, terrifying eyeball.

"What's wrong?" Xu Meng, seeing me move away from the peephole, asked anxiously.

I told her an old crone blocked the peephole with her eyeball, and now we couldn't see anything.

"An old crone?" Xu Meng seemed puzzled. Shouldn't there be a man with a knife?

She too peered through the peephole, but she immediately let out a scream of terror as the eyeball frightened her breathless.

Just then, the sound of many footsteps appeared outside our door, crazily stomping around. From the sound of it, there must've been more than a dozen, but with the peephole blocked, I couldn't see what was happening and was even more afraid to open the door and check.

About five minutes later, the footsteps finally ceased, followed by waves of chilling laughter. It sounded as if one person was laughing, yet the laughter seemed to contain many voices, as if a multitude was hidden within.

It was eerie; we didn't dare approach the door. Xu Meng clung to the corner of my shirt, never letting go, and the both of us looked utterly distressed.

Just then, with a snap, the lights went out. Xu Meng panicked and yelled, I told her not to worry, to try and find the switch first.

But when we pressed the light switch together, there was no response at all, as if there was a problem with the circuit breaker.

I asked Xu Meng where the circuit breaker was, but instead of answering, she just pointed to the balcony.

Following her gesture, I noticed a figure standing in front of the balcony's glass door. I couldn't make out the face because the lights were out, and it was pitch black in the room and nearly the same outside; I could only see that the figure was wearing a suit and holding a long watermelon knife.

The man in the suit! He had arrived! But how did he get onto the balcony on the fifteenth floor?

"He... he floated up, I... I just saw him," Xu Meng stammered in terror.

Floated up? To the fifteenth floor? No way, unless he really was a paper figure - that's the only way he could have floated up here!

The glass door wasn't locked, and with a whoosh, the man in the suit slowly pushed it open.

"Tang Hao, what do we do... he's here!" Xu Meng shivered with fear.

"What else can we do, whether he's human or paper, it's time to fight back." I grabbed a fruit knife from the fruit basket on the table; it was shorter than the man's knife.

"Decide, will you give birth to the corpse fetus, or not?" The man in the suit stepped in, slowly advancing towards us.

His voice was harsh, almost like a recording.

Xu Meng was too scared to answer, hiding behind me, and the man in the suit said again, "No answer, you die too!"

"Go to hell, I won't give birth, get lost!"

I was furious, and stabbed at the man in the suit, but he didn't dodge. The fruit knife went straight into his chest, and I only heard a hiss, as if it had pierced paper.

The man in the suit, unaffected as if the blade couldn't harm him.

"My turn!" The man in the suit spoke slowly, then his hand brought the knife down, aiming straight for my head.

Luckily, I was quick to dodge. I'm not made of paper - a knife would draw blood from me.

But he didn't let up, chasing me with the knife. I tried to pull the knife out from his chest, but he didn't give me the chance, kicking fiercely at my stomach.

His strength was inhuman; his kick sent me flying several meters away, knocking over the coffee table and sofa.

The pain was unbearable, causing me to vomit blood and roll on the ground, unable to recover.

The man in the suit was relentless, advancing with the knife, ready to stab me on the ground. With a yell of defiance, I charged and tackled him, wrestling on the floor.

He dropped the knife, and though I was still no match for his strength, I didn't plan to fight him directly; I pulled out a lighter.

A paper figure, right? Well, I refused to believe he wasn't afraid of fire.

The sight of the flame panicked the man in the suit, and he hastily tried to push me away, but I had already tossed the lighter at him.

Paper ignites easily, and with a 'woof', the man in the suit burst into flames. He didn't have time to scream before he was reduced to ashes.