The Truth Beneath the Box

“Were the noises at night all you?” I asked.

The Shadow Man nodded.

Then shook his head hard.

“What does that mean?”

“It was not me.”

He answered,

“Blame that boy. He let me out.”

“So you really were in the box?”

I still had many questions.

Before I asked, he said,

“I suspect that from the moment you arrived, he targeted you.”

“He wanted money.”

“And your body.”

Suddenly, everything made sense.

When I entered town, I did not hide the black box.

I bought a house immediately.

Wang Bin likely thought I was wealthy.

He wanted the box first.

Then me.

But by accident, he released the Shadow Man.

“So the warm water the first night was you. The second night, you carried me back to bed and took the photos?”

After speaking with him for so long, I was slightly less afraid.

He nodded.

“Then why did I feel so cold?”

“My body temperature is zero.”

That explained the ice-cold touch.

But there were still things I did not understand.

“How did Wang Bin enter my house?”

“And why was I conscious but unable to move?”

The Shadow Man took out two items.

A copied key.

A small packet of powder.

“On the first night, when I chased him, these fell from him. He came again the second day. I drove him away with a stick.”

The key had been copied.

The powder was likely what caused my mind to stay awake while my body became paralyzed.

I remembered Wang Bin’s bruised face.

So the Shadow Man had caused them.

I called the police.

The officers finally told me the full truth.

Wang Bin had dissociative identity disorder and several personalities.

Half a month earlier, he had escaped from custody.

Police had been searching for him.

When Wang Bin was ten, he witnessed his mother being assaulted and his father murdered.

After that, he changed.

During the day, he was quiet and melancholy.

At night, he became a demon.

He hid it well.

He had an excellent reputation and outstanding grades.

With social aid, he entered a top university chemistry department and won scholarships every year.

But three years after graduation, he began committing strange crimes.

He broke into young women’s homes, used a drug to paralyze them while leaving them conscious, assaulted them, killed them, and cut off their heads.

Then he took the most valuable item in the house as a trophy.

The police arrested him after the third case.

He was found to be mentally ill but not completely unable to control his actions, so his criminal responsibility was reduced.

Half a month ago, he escaped.

Yesterday, someone reported seeing him.

The restaurant owner.

That explained the strange looks.

He had recognized Wang Bin and quietly called police, afraid to provoke him.

When the police notified me that Wang Bin had been captured, I finally relaxed.

Then I quickly sold the house at a low price.

As for the Shadow Man…

Once he entered the box, I locked it.

Then I sank it into the river.

Something neither human nor ghost had no need to exist in this world.

After leaving the town, I finally slept peacefully.

But a few days later, that oppressive feeling returned.

Heavier than before.

And I did not know—

the entire process of me sinking the Shadow Man into the river had been watched by another black shadow.

I had thrown away the monster.

And also my only protection.