'Chaoyang!'

My mother heard the sound outside and suddenly blurted out my name.

My father patted my mother and gave her a signal.

My mother finally reacted.

I was inside the house.

'Dad, Mom, Xiaoyong, help me!'

The shouting outside started again, desperate and increasingly miserable.

This sound was torture for my mother; she covered her ears and refused to listen.

'Mom, please come and save me! Hurry, come and save me!' The voice outside kept shouting.

My mother turned around and hugged me tightly; I could feel her trembling.

I was worried that my mother was being deceived by the sounds outside, so I gestured for her to stop.

'Baa—' Suddenly, a faint sound came from my mouth.

My mother was startled and pushed me away as if she had seen a ghost.

I was also frightened and touched my throat. Unintentionally, I shouted again:

'Baa baa baa—'

Not just me, but my father, mother, and Xiaoyong were all terrified.

'Dad! Mom! I'm outside, please come and save me!' the voice outside shouted again.

My mother went crazy, jumped off the kang, grabbed an iron rod used for heating, and pulled open the door.

Whoosh—

The flame of the oil lamp on the table suddenly leaped more than two feet high, emitting a green light that made everything appear even more terrifying.

The flame of the oil lamp seemed to have burned out the oil in the lamp in an instant, and it went out with a swoosh, plunging the room into darkness.

A gust of wind suddenly blew on the kang, carrying sand and a voice that couldn't be distinguished as crying or laughter, causing all the pots and bowls in the room to be blown off and fall to the ground.

In the darkness, it seemed like hair swept across my body, and something clawed at me like a wild beast.

She came in.

'Ahhh...'

It was impossible to tell who was screaming.

My father, my mother, Xiaoyong, and I, the four of us, panicked and scrambled around the house.