Chapter 020 The Vanished Blood Child

Above the fifth floor in the Tiedong Complex, every window was fitted with an outer protective grille, a safeguard meant to prevent children from accidentally falling while at play. For young children, this measure offered some security, but for a sixth-grader like Xiao Dong, it was little more than a token barrier. At his age and size, he could easily climb over with just a bit of effort.

So when Shen Jiayun heard that her son had just leapt from that very window, she believed it instantly, as if struck by a thunderbolt. Yet, when she leaned out the window to look for a long while, she saw nothing unusual below. Her voice trembled with suspicion and confusion, “Mr. Li, are you sure you weren’t mistaken? There’s nothing down there at all…”

Li Tianque, still panting, his nerves shredded by fear, muttered, “Impossible… I saw it with my own eyes—a child jumped from here just now. Unless… do you have another child? I really saw it, and what was even more horrifying was that when the child jumped, his entire scalp tore off, blood streaming from his head…”

Shen Jiayun stared at Li Tianque in bewilderment. “Mr. Li… maybe you’ve been working too hard lately. I only have one child, my son. He just went out to pick up a delivery—how could he suddenly jump from here?”

“I’m not lying… I couldn’t have been mistaken. It was Xiao Dong, I’m sure it was him…” Li Tianque kept muttering to himself, his mind replaying the scene he’d witnessed when he pulled back the curtain: a child, drenched in vivid red blood, looking exactly like Xiao Dong. The child’s gaze was vacant and ethereal, his upper body hunched and curled inward, arms limp as if broken. He stared out the window, expressionless, his scalp completely torn away by some terrifying force, exposing the pulsing crimson of his brain, his face deathly pale.

At first, Li Tianque’s instinct had been to pull the curtain aside and rush to grab hold of the child, to pull him back to safety. But the horror of that sight froze him in place, and he could do nothing but cry out in shock as the child suddenly leapt, passing straight through the window. It wasn’t so much a jump as a passing through, as if his body had become insubstantial, slipping through the glass and plummeting downward.

Even stranger, by the time Shen Jiayun rushed in after hearing his scream, the child had vanished without a trace.

Li Tianque refused to believe it had all been a hallucination. Gripping the window ledge, he peered down, baffled. Yet, just as Shen Jiayun had said, there was nothing out of the ordinary below. The height made it hard to see details, but there were people downstairs—if a child had really fallen, it would have caused a commotion.

Seeing no evidence of a fall, Li Tianque’s heart was still pounding. “Jiayun, I wouldn’t joke about something like this. I really saw a child jump. Let’s hurry down and take a look…”

“Ah? But…” Shen Jiayun, seeing the tension in his face, began to feel afraid herself. She pulled off her apron, eyes reddening as she muttered, “No, you must have been mistaken. Xiao Dong already went downstairs…”

But despite her words, she was eager to go downstairs with Li Tianque. Just as they reached the door, though, the doorbell rang.

In that moment, the familiar tune of the door chime took on a strangely ominous tone. Shen Jiayun rushed to open the door—only to find Zhang Xiaodong standing there, clutching a parcel, a popsicle in his mouth, staring blankly at the two of them.

Relief washed over Shen Jiayun. She hugged her son tightly, her body still trembling. “You nearly scared me to death—I thought you really…”

Xiaodong, utterly confused, took a bite of his popsicle and tossed the parcel to the floor. “Hey, Mom, what’s going on? Did he bully you? Should I beat him up for you?”

“No, you little rascal.” Shen Jiayun stood up and gave him a light smack on the head. “Just now, Uncle Li said he saw a child jump from our window—said he looked just like you.”

Li Tianque felt even more bewildered. Had he really been mistaken? How could that be…?

Yet here was Xiao Dong, standing before him in one piece, lively and healthy, nothing at all like someone who had just jumped out of a window. So who—or what—had he seen leaping from the window?

Outside, people were chatting, playing chess, and dancing in the square. If a real child had fallen, there would have been an uproar.

“Huh? Uncle Li, have you played so many horror games you’re seeing things? I cleared that game you lent me last time—I didn’t get that into it,” Xiaodong teased, munching on his popsicle.

Li Tianque began to doubt himself. Was he really just overtired? He’d heard of people hallucinating from exhaustion, but it had never happened to him and he never thought it would.

After the shock passed, Li Tianque finished the meal absentmindedly. The dishes before him were all exquisite: crisp, refreshing mixed greens, rich and fragrant cheese shrimp balls, fiery and flavorful double-pepper beef—all his favorites. Yet today, he could scarcely taste a thing.

His mind kept circling back to that terrible vision, his gaze drawn repeatedly to the curtain by the window. He had no interest in recording his usual videos.

At last, when the meal was done, Li Tianque hurried to pay and leave. Shen Jiayun, still the perfect hostess, saw him to the door, but her eyes carried a strange look, making him feel awkward.

With a gentle voice, she said, “Mr. Li, editing videos means you’re often up late, but that’s not good for your health. If you can, try to adjust your schedule—a healthy body is the foundation for everything.”

Li Tianque forced a laugh, nodding. “You’re right, I’ve been too tired lately. Sorry for the trouble.”

“It’s nothing. Come by any time,” she replied with a smile.

Just then, Xiao Dong came out and returned the NS game card he’d borrowed. “Hey, Uncle Li, I beat ‘Blair Witch’ in five hours—faster than you!”

“Xiao Dong, you should play less—too many games are bad for your eyes.” Li Tianque poked him on the nose with a smile.

Xiao Dong made a face. “You should take care of yourself, too. Don’t tire yourself out and end up seeing me hanging from the ceiling next time… Haha! Seriously, Uncle, just how much do you hate me?”

Li Tianque smiled awkwardly, but doubt still nagged at his heart. “I really did…” He hesitated, deciding not to explain further to the child.

He stepped out, and from a distance heard Xiao Dong say to Shen Jiayun, “Mom, I’m meeting my friends at the amusement park tomorrow—no need to pack me lunch.”

“Xiao Dong, you need a haircut. Your hair’s so long you look like a girl—it’s almost long enough to braid.”

“When would I have time? With all these extracurricular classes… They keep saying they’ll lighten our load, but you never let us off. Maybe another day…”

And with that, the episode passed.