The Last Breath Chapter 2

After the roosters crowed in the village, Uncle Samuel came to the door. Mom and Dad invited him inside. I couldn't keep lying down, but when I tried to get off the bed, I inexplicably collapsed onto the floor.

That's when I discovered my left leg—the one bitten by that black thing—had lost all strength.

Uncle Samuel asked what was wrong. I told him truthfully about last night.

Before Mom and Dad could object, Uncle Samuel's face suddenly darkened. He told me to roll up my pant leg.

I did as he said. When I rolled up the denim, all four people in the room froze. On my calf skin, two deep red semicircular tooth marks were clearly visible—unmistakably human bite marks.

Dad looked even more terrified. He pointed with his finger, seemingly counting the tooth marks.

After checking once, Dad's eyes looked ready to bleed. He verified several more times.

The next second, he suddenly dropped to his knees with a thud, crying out: "Upper row, sixth tooth. Lower row, eighth and ninth teeth—those were implants. No mistake, these are tooth marks left by my mother, your grandmother!"

Inexplicable—could a dead old woman really have risen at night like a corpse, treating me like a mortal enemy, leaving tooth marks through my jeans on my leg?

Uncle Samuel was silent for a long moment, then said hoarsely: "When the old lady passed, was it a peaceful death?"

Dad quickly explained: "The old lady died of multiple organ failure, a common condition for the elderly. The family was harmonious, no troubles. Before she passed, she was even laughing and talking—the neighbors who were there can all testify."

Uncle Samuel's brow furrowed deeply after hearing this, muttering repeatedly: "If it wasn't a violent death, and there was nothing to worry about at home, why would my sister come back..."

Hearing the words "come back," our family of three felt our hearts go cold.

Could what I encountered last night be...

Uncle Samuel pressed: "Besides the shadow from the coffin, was there anything else unusual?"

My face went deathly pale. "Nothing else unless you count my throat."

I swallowed with difficulty—it hurt terribly, like someone was stabbing my throat with needles.

Uncle Samuel asked softly: "When did it start?"

I answered with difficulty: "Yesterday... when Grandma passed. I was changing her burial shroud when I heard her burp."

Suddenly Uncle Samuel's eyebrows shot up, his voice changing: "Did you smell anything?"

"There was definitely a foul odor," I replied.

After hearing this, Uncle Samuel slapped his thigh hard and exclaimed: "This is bad!"

People who work and live in cities often don't understand the lore about death and dying, but Uncle Samuel knew it intimately.

Sitting on the bed, he explained the situation in just a few words.

According to tradition, a person's final breath before death gets stuck in their throat—this is called the dying breath.

The dying breath doesn't stay in the body forever. At a certain point it expels itself—a process called "the release."

Many people share paranormal experiences online about accidentally hearing dead people sigh—they've actually encountered a release by chance.

The release guides the deceased's three souls and seven spirits to leave this world and re-enter reincarnation—a critical step.

You don't need to think hard to know the living should stay far away during this process.

That's why the saying "when the dead release, the living suffer" has been passed down to this day.