The woman pointed a trembling finger toward the cradle beside the sofa, screaming at the man with a heart-rending wail, “Can you even look at Mengmeng?” Her eyes were reservoirs of fury and utter despair.

“Every person gets only one portion of happiness in this life, and that portion can only be offered to the one they truly love. I’m sorry; I never loved you.” The man spoke with his toes barely touching the floor, his tone impossibly arrogant, laced with a faint, sickening hauteur.

The woman was so enraged she couldn't utter a sound. She snatched the kitchen knife from the floor and lunged at the man in a blind fit of rage. Agile as a striking viper, the man shifted just enough to evade the blow. In the same fluid motion, he grabbed the fruit knife from the table and thrust it forward with sudden, brutal precision, burying the blade exactly where her heart lay. A sharp, terrible cry tore from the woman’s throat as she collapsed onto the floor. In the cradle, the small infant seemed to share a psychic link; at the exact moment she fell, the baby erupted into a piercing wail.

“Ah Li…” I cried out, the sound choked and raw, but my desperate shout failed to halt the conflict between them. The man frantically began stuffing his belongings into a bag, preparing to flee the scene.

It struck me, with a sickening jolt, that this entire tableau was the very scene of Ah Li’s mother’s murder! Little Shu had told me this story years ago, back when Ah Li was nothing more than a screaming infant. I could not fathom why this nightmare was replaying itself in this very room, right now.

I stood frozen near the doorframe, watching the events unfold before me as if they were footage playing on a screen. They seemed unable to see me; my presence appeared to cause no ripple in the progression of the dreadful drama.

The man retrieved wads of cash and fine jewelry from a secret compartment beneath the sofa, stuffing it all into a travel bag. As he prepared to leave, he glanced back at Ah Li sleeping in the cradle, hesitated for a fleeting second, and then abandoned her, walking out the door.

Just as I was lost in this spellbound observation, a hand settled heavily upon my shoulder from behind. A woman whispered close to my ear, her voice thick with agony, “Save my child…”

The sensation I experienced in that moment can be described in four words: every hair stood on end. She repeated those six words—Save my child—over and over. The hand on my shoulder tightened its grip, and her body pressed closer, as if hesitating to meld entirely with mine for just one more second.

Who stood behind me? The question hammered against the inside of my skull. Since the infant Ah Li lay in the cradle, the woman demanding salvation for her child could only be Ah Li’s mother.

When the realization hit me—that the figure standing beside me, the one whose hand rested heavily on my shoulder, was none other than Ah Li’s deceased mother—the adrenaline in my system erupted to its absolute peak. In that instant, my mind went numb, my limbs turned to lead, and I could feel the frantic thunder of my own heart against my ribs, hearing my own breath coming in ragged, desperate gasps.

“Sigh…” Ah Li’s mother sighed, and the brilliant overhead light suddenly dimmed, shifting from the harsh glare of a spotlight to the weak, jaundiced glow of a lonely streetlamp. She withdrew her hand from my shoulder and walked slowly toward the dim light. Turning her body slightly sideways so I could see her profile, she spoke with an infinite, devastating sadness, “Sir, please leave. I mean you no harm.”

Only then did I truly see her form. It was exactly as Little Shu had described: a long, wicked knife protruding from her chest, dripping blood in rhythmic tick-tock drops. Her long, unbound hair curtained her face, revealing only two eyes—blood-red and terrifyingly fierce.

However, seeing her pull away from my body brought a strange calm, washing away the raw terror. After taking a long, slow breath, my mind began to cycle through pressing questions: Hadn't Little Shu purified her spirit? How could she be here? Was everything that just happened merely a dream, a hallucination, or was this a true replay?

Seeing that I remained rooted to the spot, Ah Li’s mother assumed I was paralyzed by fear and began to weep. “Sir, I apologize. I didn't mean to frighten you deliberately. The scene you just witnessed—I expended every ounce of my remaining energy to manifest it to save my daughter. My Phantasm Stone is now exhausted; this was my final chance to save her!”

Phantasm Stone? What in the world was that? I grasped the general meaning—she needed someone to save her child—but I had no idea what this “Phantasm Stone” she mentioned actually was. As I pondered the mysterious stone, my gaze drifted accidentally to the blood-red eyes of Ah Li’s mother, and a sudden memory sparked to life.