A Happy Home

The fourth night was as heavy and suffocating as cotton wool soaked in ink. The brief ripples brought by the false vitality outside the window had long been replaced by a deeper, more deathly silence.

Then, it came.

"Thump...thump...thump..."

A knock sounded at the door. It wasn't a crisp knock, but a dull, thumping sound with a wet, swollen quality, as if something outside was pounding on the door with a swollen, white hand soaked in sewage.

Immediately afterwards, a voice pierced through the crack in the door and entered everyone's ears.

The voice was hoarse and strained, as if the throat were filled with riverbed silt and rotting weeds, each word laced with a sticky, watery sound: "Wife... I'm... back... open the door... are the children... asleep...?"

The voice attempted to mimic compassion and weariness, but the cold, inhuman longing hidden beneath could not be completely concealed.

As the voice spoke, a strong, nauseating stench of water, mixed with the earthy smell of riverbed silt and the sour odor of some kind of rotting fish, seeped in through the cracks in the door and the keyhole like living tentacles, quickly polluting the already murky air in the corridor.

All the contestants in the room were instantly jolted awake from their light sleep or fear by the sound and smell!

Viewers in the live stream could almost feel the overwhelming sense of unease, even through their screens.

Holy crap! That knocking! That sound! It gave me goosebumps!

[Dad? The male head of this household? He seems even scarier than Mom!]

[A water ghost! This is definitely a water ghost! I can smell it! (Hallucination)]

Will Mom open the door? Will she let it in?!

Immediately afterwards, they heard "Mom's" hurried, even slightly panicked footsteps coming from the direction of the master bedroom. She rushed to the front door.

However, the expected sound of the door lock turning did not occur.

The voice of "Mom" came, no longer the usual programmed gentleness or the coldness of punishment, but filled with a deep-seated fear that was desperately suppressed yet still leaked out, and a cold rejection: "Get out! You're not welcome here!"

Her voice trembled slightly, as if she were facing some kind of natural enemy.

The "father" outside the door was silent for a moment, a silence that seemed to weigh a ton, making it hard to breathe.

Then, its voice became even more mournful, and the sound of water became more pronounced: "Wife... how could you... say that? I finally... swam back from so far away... let me see... the children... just one look..."

Its tone carried a false pleading tone, attempting to move her.

"Mom's" breathing became noticeably rapid, but she still didn't open the door. Her voice rose slightly, carrying a forceful urgency: "No! Go away! The person you're looking for isn't here!"

Just then, the "father" outside the door seemed to lose patience, or perhaps its original goal was already very clear.

Its voice suddenly became clearer, its cold, desperate longing undisguised: "I...want to see...our youngest son...is he...alright? Let me...see him..."

The words "youngest son" were like a lit fuse, instantly igniting "Mom"!

"Shut up!!!"

A sharp, piercing roar, almost breaking the silence of the night, shattered the stillness like the scraping of glass! The voice of "Mother" was filled with uncontrollable anger, fear, and a near-mad obsession!

"You are not him! You never can be him! Get out! Get far away from him! If you dare come near him again, I'll tear you to pieces!!"

Her words were no longer a simple expulsion, but rather a bloody threat and an unquestionable declaration of protection. The door trembled slightly because of her agitated emotions.

The things outside the door seemed stunned by "Mom's" sudden, intense, and abnormal reaction. The corridor fell into a deathly silence, with only the damp, fishy smell churning like living things.

After what felt like an eternity, a faint sigh, filled with endless chill and a twisted desire, finally drifted over: "Alas... then I... will come to see... 'you' another day..."

The last two words were pronounced with extra emphasis, carrying an ominous connotation.

The heavy, water-stained footsteps slowly faded into the distance, and the nauseating stench gradually dissipated like the receding tide.

Silence returned outside the door.

But all the candidates could clearly hear that "Mom" was still standing at the door, her breathing heavy and rapid, trembling with the shock of surviving a catastrophe, and she didn't leave for a very, very long time. She was like a taut statue, confirming whether the terror from underwater had truly receded temporarily.

The candidates were chilled to the bone.

Old Wang's brows furrowed deeply; he realized that the internal relationships within this "family" were far more complex than he had imagined.

The "mother" seemed to be protecting them, especially Shi Mo, from the more terrifying "father"? The reason behind this sent chills down his spine.

Xiaolin curled up under the bed, tears streaming silently down his face. He felt that his home was a terrifying den, besieged from both inside and outside, with nowhere to escape.

Xiao Mei slid down the door and sat on the floor, her body ice-cold. She finally understood that while "Mom's" rules might be cruel, what lay outside the door could represent a more direct and terrifying destruction.

Ah Qiang let out a final, faint groan, like a sigh, and then fell silent.

Shi Mo remained lying calmly in bed.

His powerful senses had already discerned the nature of the being outside the door—a B-rank being, a combination of resentment and water element. He also clearly sensed the immense emotional fluctuations of "Mother," from initial fear and resistance to utter rage and unwavering protection when "Youngest Son" was mentioned.

What caught his attention even more was that after "Dad" left, "Mom" looked back unconsciously, with worry and lingering fear in her eyes. Her gaze seemed to penetrate the walls and lock firmly onto the room where he was.

The protectiveness in her eyes was so intense it bordered on obsessive, as if he were the sole reason for her existence, the one she had to protect by any means necessary, even against a more powerful and terrifying force.

"Interesting," Shi Mo murmured to himself. The "plot" of this instance seemed to have become slightly less boring because of this unexpected conflict.

In the live stream, viewers were stunned by this sudden turn of events and the "mother's" unusually intense reaction:

[(Shocked) Mom just... had a meltdown?]

She seems particularly concerned about her 'youngest son'! She completely exploded when she heard 'Dad' mention Shi Mo!

[Is this to protect Shi Mo? To prevent that water ghost from touching him?]

[This is a lot of information! There's definitely a secret in this family! The 'dad' might not be the real dad?]

That water ghost was clearly after Shi Mo! It wanted the 'youngest son'!

[The mother's reaction... was like a mother animal protecting her cubs... terrifying, but also a bit... (mixed feelings)]

[Master Shi Mo remains as calm as a mountain... Has he even analyzed the conversation outside the door?]

I'm increasingly convinced that Shi Mo's identity in this instance might be more than just that of a 'candidate'...

"Mom" stood at the door for a long time, until she was sure the fishy smell had completely disappeared, before she dragged her unusually heavy steps away, as if she had exhausted all her strength.

Silence returned to the corridor, but a new, subtle unease about "protection" and "contest" crept in like spreading vines, quietly entwining the hearts of each survivor.