Turning around, she saw an old woman. She looked to be in her sixties or seventies and was probably a neighbor.
Because she was so thin and gaunt that even her lips seemed to have sunken in, and because she was dressed in a black, traditional-style Chinese outfit, standing silently in the triangular shadow just outside the door, the first impression she gave was genuinely unsettling.
As the saying goes, "If you've done no wrong, you won't fear a knock at the door at midnight." Anyone would be startled by a sudden sound or a person appearing out of nowhere. But unless you had a guilty conscience, you wouldn't be as terrified as that middle-aged man.
He looked as if he had just seen a ghost, or perhaps had seen one before, and was ready to drop to his knees and beg for mercy.
