“I’ll bring you to meet your real parents.”
Ah Fang’s death portrait was connected to Ah Fang. The closer the two were, the clearer the characters inside the portrait. The elevator moved up. Gao Ming was ready to encounter a supervillain on Situ An and Xia Yang’s level. In all his death memories, the boy was never once featured. Even though he was also a child of shadow, he seemed to have chosen a path completely different from the other twelve.
“In the picture, the boy is cute and innocent. However, he must be special to have appeared in the death portrait of the bloodred city.”
The elevator paused on the 16th floor. He was like a big brother coming to fetch his younger brother. Holding a bag of toys, he ignored the anomalies around him as he walked past the doors. Gao Ming looked down at Ah Fang’s picture and the rooms rolled by him. When he raised his head again, the room before him was Room 1601. Gao Ming knocked on the door lightly. This was the first time he was so polite inside an anomaly, “Is anyone home?”
Several old newspapers fluttered in the dark corridor. They recorded the horrible murders that happened at the apartment many years ago. The mad woman, covered in blood, ran down the corridor, brandishing a knife. She carried the corpse of her child. Tears flowed down her face, but she couldn’t stop laughing. There was more than one victim. There were more than five murders. Every murder appeared on the newspaper front page.
“Ah Fang? I’m here on your parent’s behalf.” Blood oozed out of the black-and-white newspaper. The woman in the article slowly turned around. Her hand that held the black knife appeared to reach out of the paper.
The lock turned. The old door was opened from the inside. A boy in a dinosaur pyjamas stood at the door. His eyes were pure and flawless. He looked scared. Compared to ghosts, human strangers scared him more. Ah Fang lifted his head, and the pyjama cap covered his forehead. He looked at Gao Ming’s face with confusion.
“Ah Fang?” The kid was similar to the one inside the picture. Gao Ming didn’t think things would go so well. “Your parents have been looking for you. I’ll bring you to meet your mom and dad.”
“Mom and Dad… But…” Ah Fang looked shyly behind Gao Ming, “Isn’t my mother standing behind you now?”
The mad woman, about two metres tall, wore a bloody dress. Her limbs were thin. Her dry fingers curled around an impossibly large knife. Her black hair fluttered in the wind. The woman smiled to reveal uneven teeth. Ah Fang was not scared, facing such a ghost. He hid behind the woman and stared at Gao Ming with alertness.
“Is she your support?” Gao Ming hadn’t interacted with Ah Fang before.
Security Team Four was on the 11th floor. Gao Ming was not scared of a single team, but he was afraid that they might call for reinforcement, like Wan Jie and the rest.
Gao Ming raised his hands after he put down the chains. “You were born on the surgical table of Li San Hospital. Situ An stole you from your parents and handed you to the big ghosts. I found your biological parents. They are inside my heart.”
No matter what Gao Ming said, Ah Fang hid behind the woman. He didn’t trust living humans.
“I can let you see them now.” Gao Ming’s heart raced. Eight arms reached out from his back and tore open the door of the torture room.
On the sides of the surgical table, the pair of doctors turned subconsciously towards the outside world. Their eyes met the gaze of the boy behind the woman.
The female doctor’s tears fell instantly. Then, she hurriedly hid behind the male doctor as if afraid that Ah Fang would see her in her current state. The male doctor’s expression changed for the first time. A smile that would frighten most patients appeared on his scary face.
“Are they my parents?” Ah Fang had no impression of his real parents. The confusion in his eyes deepened. His pair of flawless eyes looked at the two doctors. Then, he ran back into the room and dragged the giant schoolbag out. Ah Fang hugged the bag with difficulty and then pushed it over. Building blocks fell out noisily. When they touched the shadow, the blocks automatically arranged themselves into a simple city.
The city looked simple and unassuming, but if one compared it to the murder cases at Han Hai, one would realise that the city corresponded to all the haunted houses in the city!
The chill wind blew. The twisted souls inside the wooden homes opened their eyes. Different big ghosts crawled out. Standing in the middle, Ah Fang asked Gao Ming innocently, “Then, what about them?”
The horrifying presence blasted the surroundings. Gao Ming retreated. He felt his scalp numb. This kid was a collector of haunted houses!
Putting the schoolbag back on, Ah Fang was like a little monster standing in the city made from building blocks. It looked ludicrous, but Gao Ming felt that Ah Fang had the power to destroy the city.
“Roar!” Ah Fang pretended to growl when he saw Gao Ming back away. The boy was pure, but there was too much negative energy around him. Strong ghosts showed up and squeezed into the corridor.
Ah Fang used the building blocks to create many haunted houses. The haunted houses influenced each other in unexpected ways and showed signs of turning into a death realm. Gao Ming confirmed that Ah Fang was born with a special power of piecing together unrelated haunted houses.
“Is this the child of the shadows?” Gao Ming tossed the bag of toys behind the two of them. He touched his heart to send the two doctors out. “I’ve completed my part of the promise. Now, it’s your turn to verify your identity.”
The female doctor studied the big ghosts that surrounded Ah Fang. She was glad to see how ‘well-loved’ her son was. At the same time, she was rather disappointed because her son couldn’t recognise her.