The door is closed, the key I have, two huge door panels are in front of me, the mottled and cracked paint tells me that it has been quietly here for a long, long time. Who would open such a strange big door at midnight? Besides my brain-burned self, who else?

  At this moment, I'm like a thief, looking around nervously, I'm afraid someone will suddenly come out and see me, this behavior will definitely be labeled as mentally ill.

  I inserted the key, turned it lightly, and with a "click", the lock was opened. Before I could push the door with my hand, it creaked open by itself with a loud "creak" as if a thunderclap had sounded on this quiet night, scaring me so much that my hand trembled and I almost fell backward down the stairs.

  I took a closer look and saw that the door was open a crack. I plucked up my courage and stuck my head in, taking a peek first. It was pitch black inside and I couldn't see anything, so I decided to push it open with a bit more force.

  With a creak, the door opened, and a musty smell wafted out. A dull, heavy atmosphere enveloped me. The mining lamp on my head cast a beam of light in whatever direction I turned it, illuminating a vast expanse of whiteness that seemed to be shrouded in a layer of fog, which the light couldn't penetrate no matter how hard it tried.

  I plucked up the courage to push the door open, and in an instant, I had pushed it wide open. I stuck half my body inside and took a peek, but everything looked just like it did when I came in during the day.

  The grand temple was still overgrown with weeds, dilapidated and worn out. The only difference from daytime was that at night, it was even more quiet here, not even the sound of insects could be heard, a dead silence. The whole house was filled with spider webs, those coffins were lined up one after another, those cracked coffin lids looked like huge mouths devouring people, they just quietly waited there, waiting for the arrival of strangers.

  I said to myself, "Isn't it just a house? It's like my own home, I can come and go as I please." With this thought, I gained more courage. Sometimes being a bit muddled is better for people. But when I took one step forward, "Whoosh" - all of a sudden, I only saw a flash in the grass across from me.

  "Something's here!" I raised my gun, ready to aim, when a dark shape appeared in my line of sight. It was moving at an incredible speed, and before I could react, I instinctively ducked my head. "Whoosh" - all I felt was something sharp grazing the top of my scalp, the pain like falling on ice in the dead of winter, making me gasp for air.

  Another look, and something else came rushing over, pouncing on my thigh, it was Dazi's dog. It circled around me once, then bit tightly onto my pant leg and kept pulling outward. At this moment, I more or less understood that the thing that had just pounced on me must have been that damned owl.

  "Dead dog, I'm not going out!" I patted the dog's head, and it looked very wronged. It let out two hums and jumped outside the door, then came back in, still circling non-stop.

  The old people all said that dogs are spiritual, and this dog seemed to not want me to enter the temple. I squatted down to touch it, and found its body was trembling, shaking so hard that even the fleas on its body were about to fall off. As I stroked its back trying to calm it down, I said to it: "I know it's not safe here, but I have no choice but to come, do you want to tell me something? Is there something terrifying inside?"

  The dog whimpered and licked my hand, turned around twice and looked at me. I said: "If you were really my dog, I'd tell you that the old Xia family has been Taoist priests for generations, and we've seen all sorts of formidable characters. Your big master fought in a war back then, and he survived amidst gunfire and rain of bullets. If you're afraid, you can go back alone first, I'll go in and take a look around, whether you go or not is up to you."

  Having said that, I also took a big step forward and walked towards the inside with big strides. I reached the middle position, and Stupid still followed me, although it hesitated at the door for a long time.

  A dog's eyes can see things that people can't, and their sensitivity to danger far exceeds that of humans, as Chen Wenbin told me.

  I saw the coffin from afar, still sitting on two old stools, and after being unearthed, it's taboo to have it touch the ground, so it had to be suspended in mid-air. The symbols stuck on top of the coffin were also still there. This room was quite empty, except for a pile of rotten straw and a broken trunk. I walked around the coffin once, and since nothing unusual happened, my heart felt at ease.

  "Dull, it's all right, let's go home." I called out and the dog was about to walk out, but at this moment the dog suddenly barked loudly, "Wang"! This bark was extremely loud, I felt that Dull's vocal cords had already been stretched to their limits in order to produce such a sonorous sound. I immediately took another step back, and the dog shot out like an arrow.

  In the blink of an eye, that dog rushed back like a madman, hid behind me, and continued to bark frantically at the outside, as if someone had stolen its beloved flower. Its mouth was foaming, its neck stretched longer than a duck's. I couldn't calm down the stupid thing's frenzy, so I took my gun and walked out of the room. As soon as I stepped out, my miner's lamp shone on something that made my heart skip a beat.

  There was suddenly someone at the open gate!

  I'm sure I didn't see things, but when I looked again, the person was gone! In a flash, that big gate had been closed!

  I'm wide awake, extremely awake, I realize I've crashed into something!

  At this moment, Daidai suddenly jumped out of the house and then made a sharp turn, rushing towards the house while shouting loudly. Its teeth were bared as if it was going to eat someone. At that time, I had my back against the house, what was inside? It was that coffin! I could feel the chill behind me starting to rise, and I made a decision!

  He cocked the gun, spun around in place, and as he turned halfway around, he raised his gun and fired a shot into the house. A burst of straw flew wildly, I didn't know where I hit, but I really saw that person, standing beside the coffin, touching it with his hand, again and again.

  That man was wearing a deep blue robe with circular patterns on it, and the pants and shirt were made of the same material. I may be stupid, but I can still recognize that this is a mourning attire!

  No one would come out for a stroll wearing this thing, and I immediately blurted out an uncivilized word, raised my gun to shoot again. Just then, the man finally turned his face around and exchanged a glance with me.

  I don't know who among you has seen a dead person after a week, but his eyes aren't sunken, they're bulging out like a toad's. My lamp is shining brightly on his face, and he doesn't even blink, nor do his eyeballs reflect any light. You think I'm not scared? That's ridiculous! This guy, I knew him, I attended his funeral just the other day, isn't this High City?! He's my classmate's father!

  What to do when seeing dirty things? I'm not a Taoist priest, what can I do? Run away!

  Turned my head and walked away, but something had already been placed on my back. Zhen Wenbin once told me that if something is placed on your shoulder, never look back, as soon as you turn sideways, the fire on your body will be blown out. A person has three flames, two on their shoulders and one on top of their head, which refers to whether a person's flame is high or low. People with strong flames are not approached by evil things, but if the flame is low or extinguished, they may suffer.

  I stood there in a daze, I could feel the five fingers tightly grasping my shoulder, just as I was at a loss for what to do. Suddenly, Dazi jumped up and pounced on me from behind, it was then that I felt the grip on my shoulder loosen. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I ran forward with all my might until I reached the gate. When I turned around to look, Dazi still had half its body outside, constantly trying to get in, but its hind legs seemed to be struggling, as if it was being dragged inside!

  I turned back, I chased after her, but when I rushed into the room, Daidai was gone. The silence was as dead as when I first arrived, the only difference being that I saw the traces of fingers sliding across the coffin, I shouted with all my might: "Daidai! Daidai!"

  There was no response. When I walked out of that grand temple again, the pair of eyes on the water pine tree not far outside the house were still watching me...

  A person, as if having lost his soul, I dragged my tired body and stumbled along the small road. I felt countless pairs of eyes watching me at the moment I walked out of the temple. Accompanied by mocking voices, disdainful teasing, I was a man brought down by fear, not even worth a dog.

  The bridge in front of my home, I didn't go back home, nor did I meet up with Zha Wenbin as planned. I just sat on the bridge, smoking alone. That night was very cold, my fingers started to numb, and my mind went blank.

  I don't know what time it was, the sky hadn't lit up yet, I vaguely saw a light flashing in the distance, followed by more lights. I also heard the sound of noise and commotion, like many people were coming over. I hung my head down, thinking if it's those things that appeared at night again, are they here to take me away?