Ji Mingxia looked at the surveillance screen, then looked at the black shadow. For a moment, he didn't know which one to believe.
But he certainly didn't mean to open the door.
Ji Mingxia stood just inside the door, but did not open it. His hesitation seemed to anger the dark shadow outside the door.
Next, the black shadow not only rang the doorbell frantically, but also slammed the iron door.
The sound of the doorbell and the sound of the iron door slamming mixed together, and the harsh noise passed through people's eardrums.
However, the magical thing is that such a big commotion did not attract the attention of any neighbors.
All the houses stood silently in the darkness, like abandoned empty houses. Looking around, only Ji Mingxia's house had a bright light.
Ji Mingxia was so frightened by the weird atmosphere that he got goosebumps all over his body.
He unconsciously turned his body to allow more light to fall on himself, but at this moment, the light source behind Ji Mingxia suddenly disappeared.
Ji Mingxia looked up suddenly and saw that all the lights in his house were out.
The moment the lights in Ji's house went out, the doorbell also disappeared.
The street lights from outside shone in like hazy moonlight, and the whole world was as quiet as death, so quiet that Ji Mingxia could even hear his own breathing.
It was as if there was no other living person in the entire village except Ji Mingxia.
Ji Mingxia's face turned pale, and he couldn't help but gently hold the ring in his hand.
At this time, the sound of footsteps came from inside the house.
After a while, a hunchbacked old man slowly walked out from the darkness.
Grandma Ji walked up to Ji Mingxia, her weathered face reflected in the street light. Grandma Ji said to the stunned Ji Mingxia, "Come in."
After saying that, Grandma Ji turned and walked towards the house.
Ji Mingxia stared blankly at Grandma Ji's back.
She didn't have the habit of carrying a mobile phone with her. At this moment, the house was pitch black and the street lights couldn't shine in. Grandma Ji held a flashlight in her hand to illuminate the road.
Seeing that Ji Mingxia didn't catch up, Grandma Ji nodded and said, "I've turned off the main power. The doorbell won't ring again. Come in."
After saying that, Grandma Ji took the flashlight and shone it towards the house.
Upon hearing this, Ji Mingxia's eyes stopped on Grandma Ji's flashlight, and finally he raised his foot and followed in.
Although the light from the flashlight was dim, both Grandma Ji and Ji Mingxia were very familiar with this house. Although they couldn't see clearly, it did not affect their movement at all.
When he was about to enter the house, Ji Mingxia couldn't help but turn his head and take a look towards the gate of the courtyard.
After the power outage, the ringing sound stopped, and the knocking on the door no longer sounded. It was as if they merged into the darkness and disappeared without a sound.
The courtyard gate was quiet, and Ji Mingxia took a special look at the hollow space below the iron gate.
The shadow disappeared.
"Close the door." said Grandma Ji.
There is an iron gate in the Ji family's courtyard and a wooden door in the house.
Ji Mingxia did as he was told, and as the wooden door closed, Ji Mingxia and Grandma Ji sat in the living room together.
The Ji family's house was in darkness. The only source of light was a flashlight, which was now pointed toward the ceiling. The not-so-bright light fell down, and although it was not clear enough, they could barely see each other's figures.
After Grandma Ji sat down, she sighed softly.
She has the habit of playing with Buddhist beads. When her fingers turn them, the beads collide with each other, making crisp and delicate sounds.
Ji Mingxia didn't like this dim and silent atmosphere very much. It made him feel uncomfortable, as if there was something hiding in the dark corner where the light couldn't reach, staring at him secretly.
Ji Mingxia moved his body uncomfortably, thinking about what had just happened, and took the initiative to break the silence, saying, "So you broke the doorbell plug on purpose?"
After Ji Mingxia got home during the day, he took the opportunity while his grandmother was cooking to tidy up the whole house.
During this time, Ji Mingxia discovered that the doorbell plug in the courtyard was broken.
This is a smart doorbell. Without power, it is just a decoration.
Ji Mingxia thought that the doorbell was left unattended because Grandma Ji was old and difficult to repair.
In order to make his grandmother's life more comfortable, Ji Mingxia specially found a brand new plug from the outside of the house and installed it carefully. He did not enter the house until he was sure that the doorbell could be used.
Unexpectedly, tonight, a ghost knocked on his door.
Grandma Ji's old voice came from the side: "You must be scared."
"Not bad..." Ji Mingxia shook his head.
If Ji Mingxia had encountered such a horrific thing a few months ago in his most secure home, he would probably have fainted from fright.
After going through so many things now, although Ji Mingxia was indeed shocked just now, he quickly recovered.
He glanced at the flashlight on the coffee table and said, "Grandma, when did this start?"
Judging from Grandma Ji's actions, whether it was turning off the main power at the critical moment, or holding a flashlight to illuminate the way, and even reminding Ji Mingxia to close the door after entering, it was obvious that this was not the first time she had encountered such a thing, and she had handled it very familiarly and thoughtfully.
Ji Mingxia had no memory of his original self, and didn't know whether his original self had ever encountered such a thing. If it were normal, Ji Mingxia would definitely try to ask questions and inquire slowly.
But having just experienced such a horrible thing, and looking at Grandma Ji's graying hair, Ji Mingxia couldn't help it.
His intuition told him that these things must be related!
"It started a long time ago. Not long after you lived in the school dormitory, one night, someone suddenly started knocking on the door..." Grandma Ji said slowly, her old voice ringing in the dimness.
Jiaoye Village is not a large village, with less than a hundred people in the entire village, and the neighbors are all familiar with each other.
On weekdays, everyone keeps their doors wide open and neighbors walk in and out freely, just like a big family, taking care of each other.
Until one day, everything suddenly started to change.
The story happened when Ji Mingxia's family was in a car accident and both his parents died, leaving only Grandma Ji and Ji Mingxia, an old man and a young girl.
Soon after, a couple in their 80s did not survive the winter and both died in their sleep.
Spring finally arrived, and another family had two people diagnosed with cancer.
It was a small village, but so many things happened in succession. The whole village was plunged into sorrow, and everyone was shrouded in the shadow of death and disease.
Fortunately, the mother who was suffering from cancer soon brought good news.
Although the mother looked frail, she was surprisingly strong. After several chemotherapy sessions, the cancer cells did not spread. The mother recovered and returned to Jiaoye Village to continue her life.
To celebrate the two men's escape from the gates of hell, the entire Jiaoye Village went into a carnival, hoping to use this happy event to wash away the bad luck of the past.
At that time, everyone was welcoming the arrival of the new day with great expectations. No one expected that the nightmare of Jiaoye Village would officially begin from that day.
The villagers held an event, firstly to congratulate the mother who had cancer for regaining her health, and secondly to wish all the villagers in Jiaoye Village better and better. The celebration lasted until the evening. After the event, everyone left the square with ease and went home.
Unexpectedly, two bodies were found early the next morning.
"After the medical examination, it was said that two middle-aged men got drunk and burned themselves to death." Grandma Ji said.
"Burned to death?" Ji Mingxia asked in surprise, "Didn't there make any noise during the burning process?"
"No, no one in the village heard any sound." Grandma Ji said, "Two days later, someone reported that his relatives from Vietnam, two strong young men, disappeared inexplicably. The police immediately started looking for them, but they haven't found them until now."
Two unknown men died and two strong young men went missing. This matter is much more serious than the car accident and cancer I had seen before.
The entire Banana Leaf Village fell into panic again.
Just at this time, Jiaoye Village began to be haunted.
The place with the most ghost knocking on the door is Aunt Cheng's house.
Every late night, someone would knock on her door, but when she went downstairs to open the door, there was no one outside.
At first, Aunt Cheng thought it was a prank played by the children in the village. She asked around the whole village, but no child was willing to admit it.
Because of this, Aunt Cheng's relationship with some neighbors became strained for a time. After all, this kind of door-knocking prank would be fine once or twice, but it happened every day, causing Aunt Cheng to become mentally exhausted.
She made trouble in the village for a long time but couldn't find the real culprit. Until one day, Aunt Cheng turned on the lights in the house and pretended to be resting at home. She actually squatted in the grass outside the door, secretly observing to see who was harassing them every day.
In order to prevent the prankster from refusing to admit it, Aunt Cheng also specially equipped a camera. When the time comes, with both witnesses and evidence, it will be unclear who dares to make excuses.
The mobile phone was pointed in the direction of the gate to shoot, and Aunt Cheng was also squatting in the grass, staring at the gate closely.
As the night approached and gradually deepened, there was no sign of anyone moving around.
Aunt Cheng gradually lost her patience and stared at the gate of her house in a daze.
Just then, there was a sudden knock on the door.
Aunt Cheng immediately perked up and stared closely at her front door, trying to see who was there.
However, the gate was empty, with no one there.
Not only did Aunt Cheng not see anyone, but her phone was also empty. Yet, she could hear the constant knocking on the door...
“According to the older generation, if you open the door for a ghost knocking on your door, you are allowing it to come in… Almost every household has had it knock on their door and opened the door for it, and everyone was scared. Since then, everyone has kept their doors closed and will not open them when they hear a knock or a bell,” said Grandma Ji.
After listening to this, Ji Mingxia finally understood why the entire Jiaoye Village was completely different from what he remembered.
It was deserted and everyone kept their doors closed. It turned out that there had been a ghost there for so long.
Although Grandma Ji's words cleared up some of Ji Mingxia's doubts, at the same time, more questions popped up.
When a ghost knocks on the door, open the door for it, which means allowing it to enter the house.
What if the door isn't opened
Will the ghost go away on its own
The image of the ghost outside the door flashed through Ji Mingxia's mind, and he felt inexplicably uneasy.
If it is so easy to keep the ghost out, why does it continue to stay in Jiaoye Village and harass the residents every night
I thought of the Jiaoye Village shrouded in gloom, the weathered Aunt Chen, the white-haired Grandma Ji, and even the Ji family home, which was always filled with dust and gloom no matter how hard you swept it...
Ji Mingxia thought silently. After a moment, he suddenly felt a little uneasy.
It seems a little too quiet.
After Grandma Ji finished speaking, she stopped talking. Ji Mingxia's mind was full of questions, and she was busy thinking without saying a word.
Before I knew it, the sound of Grandma Ji counting the Buddhist beads had stopped and there was silence all around.
The dim light of the flashlight illuminated the ceiling. Except for the roof, Ji Mingxia was surrounded by darkness.
The feeling of being spied on became more and more obvious.
Ji Mingxia couldn't help but look around.
Who is hiding in the dark
Who is looking at him
Ji Mingxia looked around but couldn't find anyone, so he slowly looked away.
Just when he was about to give up, Ji Mingxia suddenly seemed to sense something and looked fiercely in the direction of Grandma Ji.
A pair of resentful eyes suddenly appeared in Ji Mingxia's sight.
Grandma Ji was sitting next to Ji Mingxia. Because she was leaning against the sofa and the Buddhist beads, her body was tilted sideways with her back to Ji Mingxia.
However, at this moment, there was an extra pair of eyes on the back of Grandma Ji's head.
Looking closely, the eye was actually embedded in a translucent skull, hanging on Grandma Ji's shoulder and sticking to her head.
It has eyes, a nose, and even lips, but when put together, it looks extremely weird, as if a human face was installed on a flat plane.
At this moment, one of its eyes was looking at Ji Mingxia, while the other eye was tilted towards the sky. The look in its eyes seemed to be one of dementia and resentment.
Its mouth was facing Grandma Ji's direction, and it was chewing something greedily in big mouthfuls.
The light around was too dark and the head was empty, so Ji Mingxia couldn't see clearly what it was biting.
Seeing Grandma Ji sitting there motionless and completely silent, Ji Mingxia was filled with rage. He overcame his fear and tried to step forward to drive away the head.
Just when Ji Mingxia's hand was about to touch Grandma Ji, suddenly, Grandma Ji woke up, opened her eyes abruptly, and saw Ji Mingxia in front of her.
She seemed to have just woken up from an exhausting nightmare, her eyes were a little dull, and when she found Ji Mingxia standing in front of her and extending her hand, Grandma Ji quickly perked up.
"What's wrong?" Grandma Ji asked.
There was hard-to-disguise fatigue and hoarseness in her old voice, and her already drooping eyelids almost covered her eyeballs. Even in the dim light, the dry wrinkles and criss-crossing grooves on her face were particularly clear and obvious.
Compared to her during the day, Grandma Ji at this moment looked as if she had a serious illness.
She looked older.
"Mingxia?" Grandma Ji called out again when she saw Ji Mingxia staring at her in a daze.
The head disappeared at this moment, and Grandma Ji also woke up. The scene that just happened seemed to be Ji Mingxia's illusion.
"You seemed to have fallen asleep just now." Ji Mingxia whispered.
"Asleep? I was awake the whole time." Grandma Ji asked in confusion, then revealed an understanding expression, "Did the incident in Jiaoye Village scare you?"
As she spoke, a rare soft expression appeared on her usually serious and rigid face: "Although there are often ghosts knocking on the door, no one has been in trouble for so long. As long as you don't open the door, nothing will happen."
As she spoke, Grandma Ji stood up and turned on the power. The whole room instantly became bright.
The darkness dissipated, and Grandma Ji stood in front of Ji Mingxia in good health.
She has a human form, a human shadow, and a normal body temperature. Ji Mingxia can confirm that the Grandma Ji in front of him is a living person.
This makes the terrifying scene just now seem even more incredible.
But Ji Mingxia could confirm that it was not his illusion.
Previous experience has confirmed that Ji Mingxia can see ghosts.
Whether it was the ghost knocking on the door outside, or the ghost that just possessed Grandma Ji, others could not see it, but Ji Mingxia could see it.
Ji Mingxia's gaze fell on Grandma Ji.
The bright lights clearly reflected every detail around, making Grandma Ji's old appearance even more concealed.
Grandma Ji also seemed particularly tired. Ji Mingxia said, "After knocking on the door once, she won't come again. Go to sleep."
As she spoke, she slowly went up the stairs with staggering steps.
The light was dim at the corner. Grandma Ji walked up step by step. Her thin, hunched body slowly became farther away, as if she was heading towards the darkness, about to be swallowed up and wiped out by the endless abyss and resentful ghosts bit by bit.