The Restless Spirit's Father

A blood-curdling scream echoed all throughout the restroom. Yun He collapsed to the floor as he held onto his hand that had lost all fingers. The blood from his cheeks and from his hand pooled under him and stained his white clothes. His tears even kept on stinging the wounds on his face.

"Help… help me..."

"Help me..."

The reflection walked towards him and looked down at him. When Yun He's eyes moved to take a look, the image was still smiling ever-so-proudly at his masterpiece. Then… it held onto its own neck. The hand that still had fingers gripped at the neck… until blood drew from the side.

Yun He could feel the loss of air, but his body had become numb from the pain. He could only move his mouth open and close as if a fish not knowing how to breathe out of the water. Soon, his legs began to kick in an attempt to signal the body to breathe.

On the verge of his consciousness, the door opened.

The image of him looked up at the person who walked in, and the reflection pulled its hand off of the neck. The reflection tried to swing its hand as if trying to swat a fly. However, the smile dropped from its face when it pulled on its hair.

Bang!

The sound of broken glass echoed in Yun He's ears. When he was shaken awake, he found himself standing before the mirror… an already-broken mirror.

He retreated from it and realized that some shards were on him. Luckily, they were small and not enough to leave anything bigger than superficial scratches.

Thud.

He felt a soft thud when his back met someone's hand. When Yun He turned, he saw Liu Xiaodan looking at him. Before Yun He could speak, Liu Xiaodan shook his head.

"It's okay. It should be gone now."

"...you knew?"

"I found out." Liu Xiaodan brought his hand down. "You didn't come back so I got bored and looked for you. When I did, you were being pulled into someone's nightmare. Don't worry now though, it's gone."

Yun He then felt his face, not feeling the same wound he just did earlier. He then looked at Liu Xiaodan. "That was a nightmare? That wasn't real?"

"It was both a nightmare and a real thing." Liu Xiaodan gave him a kind smile that didn't stay long. "Your body isn't experiencing it in real-time, but if you die in the nightmare, your heart will stop as well."

"Is this how ghosts kill people?"

"One of the ways." Liu Xiaodan looked at the mess at the sink. "You should ask someone to clean that up."

Yun He turned to see the mirrors and then back to Liu Xiaodan. "Would the cleaner be okay? A ghost just… did something with the mirror."

Liu Xiaodan only nodded before walking out. He waited for Yun He in the hallway, but while doing so, he looked at his hand. His sleeve had specks of blood while lines were being healed across his hand.

"Baba, you're using too much." Guangru pouted as he clung to his father's leg. "If you keep on doing that, I will get hungry."

"Uhm, sorry..." Liu Xiaodan reached down and petted the child. He would try to control his usage, but he was… having fun with it. He didn't feel so much rush, but he was starting to feel different.

He used his other hand to cover his face. "I want to rest in my room..."

…

Yun He walked Liu Xiaodan to his room on the fourth floor of the Rooms Hall. The father was even chuckling as he was still assigned to the very first cell on the fifth floor as if he was back in prison. Surprisingly, next to his was Anna's room.

Before he went inside his, he tried to peek inside Anna's room. However, she was only sleeping on her bed. He then went to his own and found something that he thought he wouldn't find. The big black bear was seated at the corner next to his bed.

Yun He then frowned at it. "Why is there a bear here? Who brought that here?"

"Ah, no, Old Xiong walks on his own." Liu Xiaodan walked to the bear and picked him up. He placed it on the bed and made it sit where pillows should be. He then just lied down on its leg like how he used to in the cell.

"Walks on his own?" Yun He murmured to himself before staring at the big black bear stuffed toy… only for it to wink at him. Yun He stepped back and just shook his head to leave Liu Xiaodan to himself.

After closing the door, Yun He pried open a panel next to the door. He seemed to be syncing something in it with his pager. When he finished, he saw the child looking up at him from the side. It was news that Yun He's entire body shuddered in fright.

Yun He then blinked once before clearing his throat. "Hello, sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"What are you doing?" Guangru didn't know if that device was there to lock Liu Xiaodan inside his room. If it was, then it should be destroyed.

"This will tell me when the door opens. That means I would have to attend to your father again." Yun He avoided the child and walked to Anna's room to check if she was still inside. He then armed the same hidden panel. "Same with Big Sister here."

"They're not locked inside?"

"That's someone else's job. I just need to know when they wake up and would look for me by opening the door to check. For now, I have other things to do." Yun He then finished and regarded the child. After noticing that Guangru was not like other ghost children that looked creepy and spoke demonic…

It was really impossible for him to trigger the ghosts. Something else must have made the entity in the mirror act up. However, understanding that made Yun He warier of everything else.

The child then held onto his pants' leg. "Can Guangru come?"

"Guangru?" Yun He raised his brows and just shrugged. "Just don't touch anything." He offered his hand to the child, and the child walked next to him… hand-in-hand with the nurse.

…

The breeze blew into the window, but the air had become hotter. Ren Shanyue closed the window and sighed as she settled on her seat on the edge of the bed. She then eyed Chuan Nayi who was just in her wheelchair.

"Nayi, what's on your mind?" Ren Shanyue smiled as she tried to befriend the other woman. However, Chuan Nayi didn't even answer her. Ren Shanyue only sighed before turning away. "Don't you think Liu Xiaodan had it rough? He's basically forced to carry everything the child has done.

"If I was his girl, I would've helped him through it instead of leaving him to his own devices… which resulted in him going to jail."

"You don't know what happened to me." Chuan Nayi lifted her eyes. "That monster killed someone, and it was its fault that everything started. Can you take a look at me? My legs are broken beyond repair—"

Ren Shanyue then huffed to interrupt her. "You must be so envious of Li Feng then. He was beaten to death days ago, and today, he could freely roam around again. All because of the child's miasma." The woman spoke as if she knew those things fully and by heart. She only heard these from Li Yunru.

A strange kind of glare flashed across Chuan Nayi's eyes. "Why would the child heal Li Feng? Isn't he supposed to be Liu Xiaodan's enemy now?"

"Not really. Li Feng is Liu Xiaodan's distant cousin. Besides, Liu Xiaodan worries about the other. The child didn't have any reason not to help out."

"And he did this to me?"

"Spirits of the child's caliber had their own tempers and pride. Perhaps he made you suffer to punish you." Ren Shanyue actually glared at Chuan Nayi. "If it was earnestly trying to kill you, you would be dead in an instant."

"And I was supposed to apologize to it?!" Chuan Nayi slammed a fist against the armrest of the wheelchair. "You have no right to speak about this with me!"

Ren Shanyue stared at the woman before she looked away. "You're right. I have no right to lecture you on how to properly handle spirits when you're just a common person. Those who had special abilities shouldn't find solace in the company in the likes of you."

The woman then got to her feet. "I will be working with your mother in the future, but never will I cross paths with you again. Neither will Liu Xiaodan."

Ren Shanyue then moved towards the door and walked out of the room. She was waiting for Chuan Nayi to say something, but the other woman didn't. The young mistress then proceeded downstairs to talk with others.

Downstairs, she caught Ruan Jin and the two other boys being interviewed by Li Heilong about the incidents. Unlike towards Liu Li, the boys were not wary of making the person worry about Liu Xiaodan.

Even if Li Heilong was there in the hearing, he had to hear about things that didn't make it to the trial. More likely, he was asking for the details of Li Feng's actual involvement with Liu Xiaodan prior to their discovery of their ancestral connection.

In her room, Chuan Nayi was forcing her eyes to not water. She was enraged... but at the same time, hurt. Her heart cracked so badly when Ren Shanyue forced the truth towards her.

She would never understand Liu Xiaodan, and this was the main reason why they were separated by the universe.

"Am I not allowed to feel anger? To feel fear?" Chuan Nayi gritted her teeth and clawed at the armrest of the wheelchair. "I hate the child for destroying my life first. If only he didn't try to kill Huang...

"Wait... Ruan Jin said something about the child before. He said that his power to kill only sprouts from someone else's intent to kill. There was no way he could have killed the rest of the victims because of this." Chuan Nayi bit on her lips. "So when Huang Kun was cooked like some kind of food... was he...

"Thinking of killing someone in the same manner?"

Chuan Nayi then held onto her head and glared at the floor. "I... I have to see the child. I want to know the truth. Why would he kill Huang Kun...? Who was Huang Kun planning to kill in that manner?"

Merely thinking about it churned Chuan Nayi's stomach. Her lunch quickly made its way to her mouth, and she threw up on her l.a.p. She did so uncontrollably until she felt like she had been emptied out. Her back then pressed against the backrest of the wheelchair.

She brought a hand to hold her forehead. "Xiaodan... I don't know... was I really wrong to leave you?"