The prison had a small library for those who wanted to read to pass the time. Normally, weird things would happen here as well.

Right now, Liu Xiaodan was sitting cross-legged on the floor in-between two shelves. He was facing a bookshelf while having Guangru sitting on the gap between his t.h.i.g.hs. The child was leaning against him, and the father was softly reading him a book.

However, it wasn't a book for children. There were no children there so he could only read a book with light themes.

Liu Xiaodan was sharing a lot of similarities with being a ghost right now so he could not-sleep even if the clock hit midnight. However, the library was only open until eleven.

Some others were there with them, and they couldn't help but notice this voice they could hear. Someone's reading a book out loud?

The designated librarian pulled on his lips before getting up to check up on that noisy guy. Then again, he wasn't really noisy. It just made everyone else uncomfortable.

The librarian gazed through the gaps of the shelves to find Liu Xiaodan. When he did, he was shocked to see a child on his l.a.p. He then hurried to take a peek and warm him... but there was no child anymore. His loud footsteps made Liu Xiaodan turn to his direction.

"I'm sorry... was I too loud?" Liu Xiaodan didn't want to make a scene. If he couldn't read there, then he should just take the books to his cell.

"A child..." the librarian murmured. He then shook his head before glaring at him. "There was a child here. Where did he go?"

"There's no child here. Only me."

Unconvinced, the librarian made rounds all over and kept an eye on Liu Xiaodan for a few minutes. He must have seen wrong, but to hallucinate that there was a child…?

He only shook his head and went to Liu Xiaodan. "Why don't you just check that book out and read somewhere else? Give it back in the morning or when you're done."

The inmate only sighed inwardly. He got up from the floor and took another book with him. He filled up necessary forms and left with the books on his arms.

Big eyes of pitch-black pupils stared straight at him. Since he could only see half a head, he didn't know if the child was laughing or not. When he hurriedly got to his feet, the child was gone. He maniacally searched around the desk and nearby vicinity, only to come up empty. His heart started to race as he felt like he was being haunted by something.

The other inmates in the library only looked at one another after observing the librarian's actions. When someone wanted to ask the librarian what was happening, his seatmate spoke, "Hey, kids aren't allowed here, right?"

A chill went up the librarian's spine.

...

"Naughty, where did you go?" Liu Xiaodan was already enjoying the black bear's legs as his armrests when Guangru climbed the bed. His father's head was on the bear's belly, and the big creature seemed to be asleep as well.

The child then crawled and laid his head on the father's c.h.e.s.t. Liu Xiaodan opened the book again and read until Guangru fell asleep... or what seemed to be him sleeping.

The man then placed the book at the edge of the bed before closing his eyes as well. Even if he ended up dreaming about his days at Ting University and the things he could have achieved in their film course, he knew he couldn't go back anymore.

He wanted to see his friends and his parents, but he didn't know what they would say to him now. He wasn't even sure if they would visit him at all.

"Help, somebody..."

Lights out meant midnight and cell doors left locked. He could simply pass through the bars, but he didn't want to be 'caught escaping'.

He looked around and spotted a few guards making their rounds. One of them inevitably shone his light at Liu Xiaodan and saw him standing by the cell door. The guard then walked briskly and came to him. "It's lights out. You should sleep."

"Someone was calling out for help. Can you check on everyone?" Liu Xiaodan was genuinely concerned, but the guard only snorted. "Hey, someone had already done that stunt and was killed when he forced an escape. You better not let those goons use you. You're rather young; what are you in here for?"

"Murder." Liu Xiaodan didn't give the count. However, he was sure that the voice couldn't be really faked. "Sorry, I didn't know."

"To think about it... he used this cell before." The guard wanted to scare Liu Xiaodan, but the other man only stared at him. "Kidding; it was around there."

To their surprise—when the guard swung his light at the cell where the deceased man used to be, they both saw someone curling on its bed. The guard shuddered as he instinctively grasped as the cell bars.

Liu Xiaodan might now know, but this guard knew that the cell was supposed to be unoccupied. Moreover, this guard was the one who came to that man. He was the one who shot that guy's leg to keep him from running too far.

He wouldn't have shot the guy if he just tried to escape, but the man tried to kill him by stabbing his neck with a piece of nail. The guard was even sent to the hospital and had gone back to work today after recovery. The inmate's voice was so fresh in his mind so he shuddered when the voice echoed again.

"My stomach... someone, help... my stomach hurts so bad..."

Blood came from his mouth and dripped down his chin. His right leg then bled as if something bore a hole in it. His c.h.e.s.t and stomach followed as he continued laughing.

The guard was frozen stiff, and so his grip on the flashlight slipped. Bang! The light fell on the floor with a crisp sound. At the same time, the ghost vanished from the cell.

Liu Xiaodan then motioned to pull the guard inside the cell. The man phased through the bars and ended up on top of Liu Xiaodan since the young man pulled all of a sudden. Luckily, Liu Xiaodan was fast... else, the ghost could have grabbed the guard.

"F.u.c.k! How did I end up here?!" The guard knew that the doors could only be opened from the control room. How did Liu Xiaodan pull him in?

Worse, the deceased man was now standing in front of Liu Xiaodan's cell. He was mad as he grabbed at the cell bars and roared like a monster.

"Holy shit!"

"Mr. Guard, can you keep secrets?" Liu Xiaodan locked his eyes on that man charging against the cell bars. He received a head shake from the guard before bitterly laughing.

In one swift motion, the deceased man was then swatted like a fly. The ghost flew to the atrium and fell down five floors down to the first floor.

However, as if it was not weird enough, a terrifying scream echoed all over the place. This time, all the inmates were jolted awake by it. They all went to the bars and tried to see who made that sound.

No matter, the guard got up and looked down from the atrium and saw a pool of blood was on the floor. The guard in charge of that floor was looking around for anything that could have done so, but he only met the gazes of the guards who went to respond to the sound. Everyone else was puzzled but that guard who talked to Liu Xiaodan.

He didn't care what happened anymore. All he thought about was running out of sight.

When he was running, he received a radio call from Control. He stopped and caught his breath before answering. "Yes, Control?"

"Fu Xing, someone just jumped from the fifth floor. Did you see it?" The machine voice made Fu Xing shudder some more. He then took a deep breath. "N-No, why was it from my floor? That scream?"

"Yeah, camera 24 saw a man fall from above the fourth floor. Didn't you see anyone jump?"

"No, did someone's door open?"

"Nope, none." The speaker even teased him. "I actually thought it was you because you're the only one who could have jumped." He then cleared his throat. "Ehem, as I was saying, check all the inmates if we're missing anyone. Control out."

"Sure." Fu Xing then dropped to a squat. He grabbed his hair and felt like he wanted to pee all of a sudden. No doors opened? How did he end up inside that person's cell?

However, he just wanted to finish his round for tonight. Tomorrow morning, he'd look into that man's records. He was sent there for murder, right? Who did he kill?

From the control room, the lazy operator yawned as he watched everyone make a fuss about the pool of blood. Only Fu Xing didn't join the fray.

When he thought of the poor warden, he cycled through the cameras on the fifth floor. He found the guard who seemed to be dejected and lost, his flashlight not even waving properly. The operator was about to radio him again until he noticed something weird.

A hand... a small hand was holding onto Fu Xing's uniform, and a small figure was walking next to him. When the duo passed under a camera, the operator was shocked.

A child, around six years of age, was walking with Fu Xing... and directly stared at him.