In the elevator, Feng Tian caught sight of a woman in the corner out of the corner of his eye, yet her figure was not reflected on the elevator wall, and he instantly realized she was a female ghost. Back then, Feng Tian didn't carry the fully equipped satchel he did now, but he usually had things on hand to deal with spirits. He slowly took out a jar, twisted it open, and sprinkled the ash inside towards that corner.

But unlike what he expected, the female ghost didn't scream or materialize in pain; instead, nothing at all happened in the elevator. The elevator showed no anomalies either, still descending slowly to the first floor. Before the doors opened, he checked the corner again carefully.

It seemed the female ghost was just a transient spirit, not intending to do anything to him, nor planning to linger in the elevator. But after Feng Tian stepped out, he still felt a nagging sense that something was unfinished, yet this kind of matter was occurring in an office building, and no one was hiring him to resolve it. At that time, he wasn't as inclined to meddle as he was now.

It was just that he didn't know then that this female ghost was not the trivial matter he perceived her to be. When Feng Tian returned home, the sky outside was already darkening. He reached his floor, the third, and the hallway light wasn't on.

He tried the switch; the bulb seemed to be broken. Muttering a complaint, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his house keys. Back then, his home had two doors: an old-fashioned barred security door outside, and the original wooden entrance door inside.

As Feng Tian was about to insert the key into the lock of the security door, he looked up. Under the natural light filtering in from the hallway window, he was startled to see a somewhat indistinct, white figure standing right between the security door and the main house door. Although the light was dim, he could still discern that a human shape stood in the space between the two doors.

He couldn't make out any features, but the silhouette of a person was clear. He was certain he wasn't seeing things, but there was absolutely no way a person could stand in the narrow space between the security gate and the main door. He stared dumbly at the figure for about a minute before thinking to reach for his tools.

But when he looked down to find the jar of ash and looked up again, the figure had vanished. Yet the image of that figure remained vividly imprinted in his memory. That outline truly resembled the shape of a woman.

Feng Tian started to feel a tremor of panic. Connecting it to the female ghost he saw in the office elevator just moments ago, he couldn't help but worry that he had become entangled with something unclean. Although the figure was gone, his hands couldn't help but tremble slightly as he inserted the key into the lock, taking a good while to open the security door.

Opening the inner house door, he hesitated for a moment, suddenly not daring to step inside. After a brief pause, he decided to liberally sprinkle ash throughout the entryway before finally stepping into his home. Inside, there was no sense of anything abnormal.

He closed the door, performed a few basic protective measures, then managed to procure something to eat for a makeshift dinner. Afterward, he went to bed early to rest. Exhausted from a long day of activity, he fell asleep shortly after lying down.

It wasn't until around midnight that Feng Tian was abruptly awakened by a strange, rustling, "clattering" sound. Keeping his eyes shut, he listened. The noise sounded exactly like the sound of paper being vigorously shaken.

Feng Tian opened his eyes. The bedroom was pitch black. Just as he was about to reach for the light switch, a sudden weight draped an arm over him, and a cool, smooth hand gently touched his cheek.

Simultaneously, a soft body leaned against him; he could distinctly feel it was a woman's body. But this was utterly impossible for Feng Tian; he certainly wasn't having an intimate encounter in his sleep. Alarmed, he reached out, found the pull-cord for the bedside lamp on the other side, and yanked it.

Under the dim, yellow light, he saw a woman lying right beside him. He immediately noticed her face, stark white to the point of being blinding, and her lips, vividly red. However, there was a sunken scar on one cheek.

When Feng Tian noticed the half-open blue cloth jacket she was wearing, he instantly understood why he had felt a sense of familiarity earlier. This wasn't a woman at all; it was the paper effigy he had damaged previously. Feng Tian let out a cry and shoved her away fiercely.

The figure tumbled off the bed and onto the floor. Just then, the light bulb in the table lamp began to flicker erratically, buzzing with the sound of electricity arcing. In the intermittent flashes of light, the woman slowly pulled herself up from the floor.

Compared to moments before, she now clearly revealed her true form as a paper effigy. Except that her facial features looked painted on, the area on her cheek that Feng Tian had broken was now split open again. Through the tear, he could see the paper edges vibrating as she slowly raised a hand, attempting to smooth down the torn edges of the paper.

Feng Tian could scarcely believe what was happening. After all, not only were ancient coins tied with red string hanging by his bedside, but a Buddha statue, supposedly blessed by his master, was enshrined in his bedroom. By all logic, his room should have been forbidden territory for spirits.

Just then, the paper figure suddenly grinned at him, using one hand to steady itself against the side of the bed, apparently preparing to climb back onto the mattress toward him. Feng Tian had no tools to fight spirits nearby. Logically, a paper effigy could simply be torn apart by hand, but for some reason, watching the paper figure slowly climb onto the bed, he couldn't muster the courage to use his hands against it.

Instead, he panicked, slid off the other side of the bed onto the floor, and as the paper figure reached the quilt, he swiftly circled the bed and lunged for the bedroom door. He grabbed the doorknob, twisted it hard, and pushed, but the door wouldn't budge, as if something solid was bracing it from the outside. Terror gripping him, Feng Tian tried several more times to no avail.

When he turned back, he saw that in less than a minute, the paper figure was no longer on the bed; it was now only a few steps behind him, swaying slightly as it walked toward him. Its blood-red lips were curved upward slightly, and the paper around the break on its cheek trembled gently with its movement, sending shivers down Feng Tian's spine. It must be said that Feng Tian at the time was relatively new to the field, possessing very little experience in handling such situations, and his mental fortitude was severely lacking.

But this was only one aspect. On the other hand, he couldn't fathom why he was so paralyzed with fear that he couldn't resist, only knowing the futile effort of pushing against the bedroom door. A dry, rattling laugh suddenly escaped the paper figure behind him.

By now, she was almost upon him, her hand mere inches from touching his body. Feng Tian’s face changed drastically, and an involuntary cry escaped him. But at that moment, he suddenly thought of a method and prepared to bite his tongue until it bled.

Unexpectedly, the bedroom door he had been bracing against suddenly swung open. The event was so sudden that he stumbled forward, crashing out of the bedroom, nearly falling onto the floor outside. Fortunately, he managed to catch himself with his hand, preventing a full fall.

As he started to straighten up, he looked up and saw, to his horror, a pair of legs directly in his line of sight, blocking his path.