Homecoming Horror: My Whole Family Is Putting on an Act

I quit my job and returned to my hometown. When I went back to the old home deep in the mountains, which I hadn't seen for two years, I found that the warm home of my memories had become a deadly haunted house.

The old house was covered in bizarre rules for survival. By day, life went on as usual, but after nightfall, everyone changed. My parents moved stiffly, their eyes vacant; my younger brother lurked in the shadows all day. Dragging sounds and whispers filled the courtyard night after night, while a bone-chilling gloom hung over the entire house.

I followed the rules and stayed on guard every night, believing I was trapped by the curse of a century-old house spirit, doomed to die. But after probing carefully and digging for clues, I glimpsed the most horrifying truth of all: every eerie scare had been an act put on by my family for three whole years.

The Su family's ancestral home bore a century-old curse born of lingering resentment. Only by having one person bear the utmost terror and absorb the sinister force could the blood relatives of the entire village survive. The curse resurfaced three years ago, and Grandma was on the brink of death. To protect me and let me live safely away from home, my family willingly played ghosts and did evil, enduring day and night in disguise to shield me from a fatal calamity.

The false horrors were the heaviest expression of a family's love and protection. The moment their deception was exposed, the curse that had been building for three years erupted in full force, and true desperation arrived right on schedule. This time, I will no longer be a vessel for helpless fear. Blessed with a spirit-attuned constitution, I am determined to face the century-old conspiracy, break the curse and banish the evil with my own strength, and keep my whole family safe and at peace for years to come.